checkmate

English

Etymology

From Middle English chekmat, from Old French eschec mat, from Arabic شَاه مَاتَ (šāh māta), from Classical Persian شاه مات (šāh māt, “the king [is] amazed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛkmeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Interjection

checkmate

1. (chess) Word called out by the victor when making a move that wins the game.
2. (by extension) Said when one has placed a person in a losing situation with no escape.

Alternative forms

• check and mate

Synonyms

• (chess): mate

Translations

said when making the conclusive move in chess

Albanian: shah mat Arabic: شَاهْ مَات m (šāh māt), مَات (ar) m (māt), كِش مَلِك m (kiš malik) Egyptian Arabic: كش ملك (kešš malek) Armenian: շախ և մատ (šax ew mat), մատ (hy) (mat) Belarusian: мат (mat), шах і мат (šax i mat) Bengali: কিস্তিমাত (bn) (kistimat) Bulgarian: мат (mat), шах и мат (šah i mat) Catalan: escac i mat (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 將軍 / 将军 (zh) (jiāngjūn) Czech: mat (cs), šach mat m Danish: skakmat c Dutch: schaakmat (nl) n, mat (nl) n Estonian: šahh ja matt Faroese: skák og mát Finnish: shakki ja matti French: échec et mat (fr) Galician: xaque mate (gl), mate (gl) m Georgian: შამათი (ka) (šamati) German: schachmatt (de), schach und matt Greek: ματ (el) (mat) Hebrew: מָט (he) (mat) Hindi: मात (hi) (māt), शहमात (hi) (śahmāt) Hungarian: sakk-matt (hu) Icelandic: skák og mát Indonesian: syahmat, skakmat, sekakmat (id) Italian: scacco matto (it) Japanese: チェックメイト (ja) (chekkumeito) (in chess), 詰み (ja) (つみ, tsumi) (in shōgi) Kalmyk: мад (mad) Khmer: ស្លាប់ក្រឡា (slap krɑlaa) Korean: 외통수 (oetongsu) (in janggi), 체크메이트 (chekeumeiteu) (in chess) Latvian: šahs un mats Macedonian: шах-мат (šah-mat), мат (mat) Malay: syahmat (ms) Maori: whakamiere Middle English: chekmat Mongolian: мад (mn) (mad) Norwegian: sjakkmatt Persian: کیش و مات (kiš o mât), شاه مات (fa) (šâh mât), شهمات (fa) (šahmât), مات (fa) (mât) Polish: mat (pl) m, szach mat, szach i mat Portuguese: xeque-mate (pt) m, xaque-mate m Romanian: șah mat, mat (ro) Russian: мат (ru) m (mat), шах и мат (šax i mat) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: шах-мат, мат Roman: šah-mat (sh), mat (sh) Slovak: šachmat, mat Slovene: šah mat, mat (sl) Spanish: jaque mate (es), mate (es) m Swedish: schackmatt (sv) Tagalog: mate (tl) Tajik: шоҳ мот (šoh mot) Thai: รุกฆาต (rúk-kâat), รุกฆาตแล้ว (rúk-kâat-lɛ́ɛo) Turkish: şah mat (tr) Ukrainian: мат m (mat), шах і мат (šax i mat) Urdu: شاہ اور مات (śāh aur māt), شاہ مات (śāh māt) Vietnamese: chiếu tướng Welsh: siachmat m Yiddish: מאַט (mat)

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

checkmate

Wikipedia

checkmate (countable and uncountable, plural checkmates)

1. (chess) The conclusive victory in a game of chess that occurs when an opponent's king is threatened with unavoidable capture.
   • 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE‎, page 10:

     This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the checkmate position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Any losing situation with no escape; utter defeat.

Hyponyms

• (chess): double checkmate, smothered checkmate

Related terms

• stalemate

Translations

conclusive victory in a game of chess

Arabic: شَاه مَات (šāh māt) Armenian: շախմատ (hy) (šaxmat) Belarusian: мат m (mat) Bulgarian: мат m (mat) Chinese: Mandarin: 將死 / 将死 (zh) (jiāngsǐ), 將軍 / 将军 (zh) (jiāngjūn) Czech: mat (cs) m Danish: skakmat, mat (da) Dutch: schaakmat (nl), mat (nl) Esperanto: ŝakmato (eo) Estonian: matt Faroese: mát n Finnish: matti (fi) French: échec et mat (fr) m Galician: xaque mate (gl) m Georgian: შამათი (ka) (šamati) German: Schachmatt (de) n Greek: ματ (el) n (mat) Hebrew: מט (he) (mat) Hungarian: sakk-matt (hu), matt (hu) Italian: scacco matto (it) m Japanese: 詰み (ja) (つみ, tsumi) (in shogi), チェックメイト (ja) (chekkumeito) (in chess) Korean: 체크메이트 (chekeumeiteu) (in chess), 외통수 (oetongsu) (in janggi) Maori: whakamiere Mongolian: мад (mn) (mad) Norwegian: Bokmål: sjakkmatt Nynorsk: sjakkmatt Persian: کیش و مات (kiš o mât), شهمات (fa) (šahmât), مات (fa) (mât) Polish: mat (pl) m Portuguese: xeque-mate (pt) m, xaque-mate m Romanian: șah mat n, mat (ro) n Russian: шах и мат m (šax i mat), мат (ru) m (mat) Scottish Gaelic: clos m Slovak: mat m Slovene: šah mat m, mat (sl) m Spanish: jaque mate (es) m, mate (es) m Swedish: matt (sv) c, schack matt (sv) c Thai: รุกฆาต (rúk-kâat) Ukrainian: мат m (mat) Vietnamese: chiếu hết, chiếu bí Zazaki: sah mat c du

losing situation with no escape

Bulgarian: мат m (mat) Chinese: Mandarin: 徹底失敗 / 彻底失败 (chèdǐ shībài) Czech: matová situace f Estonian: lüüasaamine Finnish: nurkka (fi), umpikuja (fi) German: Schachmatt (de) n, Niederlage (de) f Hungarian: patthelyzet (hu), zsákutca (hu), vesztes/reménytelen/kilátástalan helyzet Middle English: chekmat Persian: کیش و مات (kiš o mât) Portuguese: xeque-mate (pt) m Russian: please add this translation if you can Slovak: matová situácia f Zazaki: mat c du

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Korean: (please verify) 외통 장군 (oetong janggun) Latin: (please verify) latrunculusque matum Maranao: (please verify) samat

Verb

checkmate (third-person singular simple present checkmates, present participle checkmating, simple past and past participle checkmated)

1. (transitive, chess) To put the king of an opponent into checkmate.

   My opponent checkmated me in four moves!

   • 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE‎, page 10:

     The game is won by the player who has checkmated his/her opponent’s king.

2. (transitive, by extension) To place in a losing situation that has no escape.
   • 2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 191:

     Where is it? What does SCP-3125 look like? Its motivation, its origins, its modus operandi— how much of that can be known? Does it have to be known, to solve the problem? Does it matter how intelligent the intelligence is, once it's inside the box, once it's checkmated?

Derived terms

• checkmater

Translations

to put an opponent into checkmate

Bulgarian: мати́рам (bg) (matíram) Chinese: Mandarin: 把...將死 / 把...将死 (bǎ...jiāngsǐ) Czech: matovat, dát mat Esperanto: ŝakmatigi Faroese: máta Finnish: matittaa (fi), tehdä matti French: faire échec et mat Georgian: დაშამათება (dašamateba) (verbal noun), აშამათებს (ašamatebs) (infinitive) Hungarian: mattot ad, megmattol (hu) Italian: dare scacco matto Japanese: チェックメート (ja) (chekkumēto) Maori: whakamiere Mongolian: мад хийх (mad xiix) Persian: شهمات کردن (šahmât kardan), مات کردن (fa) (mât kardan) Polish: zamatować pf, dać mata pf Russian: ста́вить мат impf (stávitʹ mat), поста́вить мат pf (postávitʹ mat) Scottish Gaelic: cuir clos air Slovak: dať šach mat Slovene: matirati Swedish: schackmatta (sv), sätta matt, göra matt, sätta schackmatt, göra schackmatt Thai: รุกฆาต (rúk-kâat) Turkish: mat etmek (tr) Ottoman Turkish: مات ایتمك (mat etmek), كش ایتمك (kiş etmek) Vietnamese: chiếu bí

to lead to a situation of no escape

Bulgarian: матирам (bg) (matiram) Chinese: Mandarin: 挫敗 / 挫败 (zh) (cuòbài) Finnish: saattaa umpikujaan, panna ahtaalle Hungarian: sarokba szorít (hu) Mongolian: мад тавих (mad tavix), мад цохих (mad coxix) Russian: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Romanian: (please verify) șah mat Spanish: (please verify) dar jaque mate, (please verify) dar mate