Word.ws English Dictionary

game over

UK/ˌɡeɪm ˈəʊ.və(ɹ)//ˌɡeɪm ˈoʊ.vɚ/

game over phrase: a message signaling that the game has ended, usually because the player failed (for example by losing all of their lives) but sometimes following successful completion of the game.

game over: a message signaling that the game has ended, usually because the player failed (for example by...
Image: Kenta Cho, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Phrase

game over

  1. A message signaling that the game has ended, usually because the player failed (for example by losing all of their lives) but sometimes following successful completion of the game.
    • Before I could figure out what the hell was the object of the game, I hear the thing go boom-boom, and the screen lights up with a sign: game over.1984, Robert Maxxe, Arcade
  2. (broadly) The end of some ongoing situation, especially in failure.
    • If your wife finds out about us, it's game over!
    • That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?1986, Aliens
  3. (broadly) Death.
    • When you have cancer, you pretty much have two options: chemotherapy, or game over.

Noun

game over (plural game overs)

  1. An appearance of a game over message.
    • When you die too many times in this game, you get a game over.

Verb

game over (third-person singular simple present game overs or games over, present participle game overing or gaming over, simple past and past participle game overed or gamed over)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To receive a 'game over' message.
  2. (rare, transitive) To deliver to someone a 'game over' message.

game over meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Arabic

game over in Hindi

message
खेल ख़त्म khel xatma
end of some ongoing situation
खेल ख़त्म khel xatma

game over in Tamil

message
ஆட்டம் முடிந்தது āṭṭam muṭintatu
end of some ongoing situation
சோழி முடிந்தது cōḻi muṭintatu

game over in Urdu

message
کھیل ختم khel xatma

game over in Arabic

message
اِنْتَهَت اللُّعْبَة intahat al-luʕba
More languagesFewer languages
game over in Indonesian
gim selesai, sudahan, berakhir, selesai
game over in Persian
بازی تمام شد bāziy tamām šod
game over in Vietnamese
qua đi

Forms of game over

Noun
pluralgame overs
Verb
third-person singular presentgame overs
third-person singular presentgames over
present participlegame overing
present participlegaming over
past participlegame overed
pastgame overed
past participlegamed over
pastgamed over
alternative formgame-over

Origin of game over

The message originated on pinball machines and has been very widely used in video games.

Questions about game over

What does game over mean?
Game over means a message signaling that the game has ended, usually because the player failed (for example by losing all of their lives) but sometimes following successful completion of the game.
What is game over in Hindi?
Game over in Hindi is खेल ख़त्म (khel xatma). See Game over meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is game over?
Game over can be a phrase, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce game over?
Game over is pronounced /ˌɡeɪm ˈəʊ.və(ɹ)/ (UK).

Words near game over in the dictionary

  1. game of the goose
  2. game of Troy
  3. game of two halves
  4. game on
  5. game out
  6. game over
  7. game overed
  8. game overing
  9. game overs
  10. game pad
  11. game pads

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: game over (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-game over.wav.

Cite this entry: “game over.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/game_over. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.