Word.ws English Dictionary

raise the stakes

raise the stakes verb: to increase in significance or risk.

Verb

raise the stakes (third-person singular simple present raises the stakes, present participle raising the stakes, simple past and past participle raised the stakes)

  1. (idiomatic) To increase in significance or risk.
    • The bank robber decided to take a hostage in order to raise the stakes.
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see raise, stakes (used literally e. g. of a hand of poker)
    • With a royal flush, he decided to raise the stakes.

Synonyms of raise the stakes

Forms of raise the stakes

third-person singular presentraises the stakes
present participleraising the stakes
past participleraised the stakes
pastraised the stakes

Questions about raise the stakes

What does raise the stakes mean?
Raise the stakes means to increase in significance or risk.
What part of speech is raise the stakes?
Raise the stakes is a verb.
What is the past tense of raise the stakes?
The past tense of raise the stakes is raised the stakes.

Words near raise the stakes in the dictionary

  1. raise the flag and see who salutes
  2. raise the line
  3. raise the roof
  4. raise the specter
  5. raise the spectre
  6. raise the stakes
  7. raise the white flag
  8. raise the wind
  9. raise to the ermine
  10. raise to the purple
  11. raise unshirted hell

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: raise the stakes (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-raise the stakes.ogg.

Cite this entry: “raise the stakes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/raise_the_stakes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.