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“gamut”
gambit, gamut
gambit (GAM bit) (noun)
1. A maneuver or action intended to gain an advantage: The winning chess player executed a clever gambit against his opponent.
2. A stratagem, or ploy, especially one used at an initial stage: The football coach outlined a new gambit to the players before the game started.
3. A remark intended to open a conversation: As his opening gambit, Phillip asked his new friend about the weather.
2. A stratagem, or ploy, especially one used at an initial stage: The football coach outlined a new gambit to the players before the game started.
3. A remark intended to open a conversation: As his opening gambit, Phillip asked his new friend about the weather.
gamut (GAM uht) (noun)
The entire range or extent, as of emotions: Aurora's face expressed a gamut of emotions, from tense anger to relaxed satisfaction.
The chess player’s expressions ran the gamut from fear to exhilaration as he pondered his gambit.
In response to the producer’s opening gambit, the face of the actor registered a gamut of emotions from fear to hatred.
The movie critic described the actor's dramatic skills as running the gamut of emotions from "A" to "B".
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group G; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words:
“gamut”
1. A whole series or scale of musical notes: Before playing her favorite musical pieces on the piano, Pamela warmed up by playing a gamut of harmonics that her teacher gave her.
2. A complete or entire range of anything: Mary's feelings about the singing contest ran the gamut from hope to despair.
3. Etymology: Guido of Arezzo, an 11th-century musician and a monk, called the first line of his bass staff gamma and the first note in his scale ut, which meant that gamma ut was the note written on the first staff line.
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2. A complete or entire range of anything: Mary's feelings about the singing contest ran the gamut from hope to despair.
3. Etymology: Guido of Arezzo, an 11th-century musician and a monk, called the first line of his bass staff gamma and the first note in his scale ut, which meant that gamma ut was the note written on the first staff line.
Over the years, gamma ut was shortened to gamut; however, the scale of its meaning expanded to cover "all the notes of Guido's musical scale", then "all the notes in the range of a musical instrument", and finally, "an entire range of anything".
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This entry is located in the following unit:
English Words in Action, Group G
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A complete range of anything; such as, the entire scale of musical notes or ranges of emotions. (1)
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Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words
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