Xanatos gambit
Xanatos gambit noun: a subtle plan (usually villainous) that cannot be foiled, such that attempts to defeat it actually further its creator's goals.
Noun
Xanatos gambit (plural Xanatos gambits)
- A subtle plan (usually villainous) that cannot be foiled, such that attempts to defeat it actually further its creator's goals.
- It strikes me, as it no doubt has struck many of you, that this strategy is cynical. What may not have struck you is how cynical, how much of a Xanatos Gambit, this game their playing really is.2011 June 29, “Their Xanatos Gambit”, in Daily Kos
- Beale can insist that he brilliantly put Hugo voters in the jaws of a Xanatos Gambit whereby every choice is a losing move[…]2017 December 10, Elizabeth Sandifer, Neoreaction a Basilisk: Essays on and Around the Alt-Right, Elizabeth Sandifer, →ISBN
Forms of Xanatos gambit
| plural | Xanatos gambits |
|---|
Origin of Xanatos gambit
Coined on TV Tropes in reference to the character David Xanatos from Gargoyles, who is depicted as a criminal mastermind who often claims victory after his apparent defeat.
Questions about Xanatos gambit
- What does Xanatos gambit mean?
- Xanatos gambit means a subtle plan (usually villainous) that cannot be foiled, such that attempts to defeat it actually further its creator's goals.
- What part of speech is Xanatos gambit?
- Xanatos gambit is a noun.
- What is the plural of Xanatos gambit?
- The plural of Xanatos gambit is Xanatos gambits.
Words near Xanatos gambit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Xanatos gambit (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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Cite this entry: “Xanatos gambit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/xanatos_gambit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.