roulette
roulette — noun
1. a casino game on a spinning wheel with coloured numbered slots, where players be
a casino game on a spinning wheel with coloured numbered slots, where players bet on where a bouncing ball will land
Xiu placed her chips on red thirteen and watched the croupier spin the roulette wheel.
collocation: place chips / place a bet
The casino added two new roulette tables to meet the growing demand from visitors.
passive: roulette tables were added
Aylin won a small fortune at the roulette table on her first night in Monaco.
Brandon prefers roulette over poker because the rules are simpler and the game moves faster.
Lucas lost track of time watching the silver ball bounce between the numbered slots.
文法句型
play roulette
bet on + [number/colour] at roulette
常見錯誤
2. a situation in which the result depends entirely on luck, with no way to predict
a situation in which the result depends entirely on luck, with no way to predict or influence what will happen
Starting a business with no plan is financial roulette — win big or lose everything.
metaphorical: financial roulette
Every winter, the mountain drivers play roulette with the icy roads and sudden snowstorms.
pattern: play roulette with [danger]
Each hospital visit is a roulette spin that brings good or bad news for Otis.
Small farmers who plant only one crop are playing roulette with their yearly income.
Hiring someone based only on a five-minute interview feels like roulette to Gita.
- certainty
direct opposite in terms of predictability
- sure thing
informal opposite — something whose outcome is guaranteed
文法句型
(something) is roulette
play roulette with + [something valuable]
用法筆記
Always appears in figurative or metaphorical contexts — the underlying image is the unpredictability of the casino game. Common with the verb play or the phrase feel like / be like.
常見錯誤
roulette — verb
1. to cut a row of small holes into paper or thin metal, creating a line along whic
to cut a row of small holes into paper or thin metal, creating a line along which the material can be torn apart easily
The printing machine rouletted the sheets of stamps so that buyers could tear them apart.
passive alternative: sheets were rouletted
Antonia used a metal wheel to roulette the paper edge for easy folding.
The factory roulettes each metal sheet so workers can snap off correctly sized panels.
Linh watched the machine roulette the thin copper sheet with small, evenly spaced holes.
Early postage stamps were often rouletted by hand before the invention of automatic perforation machines.
- seal
the opposite action — closing or joining rather than creating openings
文法句型
roulette + [material]
be rouletted
用法筆記
Rare in everyday speech; mostly found in discussions of stamp production, printing, and craft techniques. The passive form (be rouletted) is noticeably more common than the active.