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lottery
[ lot-uh-ree ]
noun
- a gambling game or method of raising money, as for some public charitable purpose, in which a large number of tickets are sold and a drawing is held for certain prizes.
- any scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance.
- any happening or process that is or appears to be determined by chance:
to look upon life as a lottery.
lottery
/ ˈɒəɪ /
noun
- a method of raising money by selling numbered tickets and giving a proportion of the money raised to holders of numbers drawn at random
- a similar method of raising money in which players select a small group of numbers out of a larger group printed on a ticket. If a player's selection matches some or all of the numbers drawn at random the player wins a proportion of the prize fund
- an activity or endeavour the success of which is regarded as a matter of fate or luck
Other Word Forms
- t·dzt· adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of lottery1
Example Sentences
The new regs for 2026 seem like a lottery for teams who either nail or fail them, leading to a dominant team and those lagging behind.
Participants in the pilot were selected by lottery, with 251 receiving the monthly payments and an additional 370 enrolled in a control group.
Miliband dismissed the story as "nonsense," saying he would not approve a plan that led to an energy price "postcode lottery".
I recently attended Downing Street to present a petition to the government to end the postcode lottery for gluten-free prescriptions in my role as an ambassador for the charity Coeliac UK.
Dr Juan Jose Medina, a criminologist at the University of Seville, says Spain has a "postcode lottery" for women applying for restraining orders – some jurisdictions are much more likely to grant them than others.
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