roll the dice

English

Etymology

Metaphor from the use of dice in gambling games.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

roll the dice (third-person singular simple present rolls the dice, present participle rolling the dice, simple past and past participle rolled the dice)

1. (figurative) To take a chance, particularly a risky attempt.
   • 1995 August 13, Christopher Farrell, “Commentary: Media Control Is Narrowing. Should We Worry?”, in Businessweek, retrieved 14 Aug. 2012:

     No one really knows which companies and technologies will come out ahead, so everyone is rolling the dice.

   • 2003, James Siegel, Derailed‎^[1], →ISBN:

     Could we take the chance? Could we roll the dice?

   • 2009 June 15, Tony Karon, “Khamenei: The Power Behind the President”, in Time:

     Whatever comes next, the events of the June 12 presidential election will be remembered as a turning point in Iran's revolutionary history; a moment when Ayatullah Ali Khamenei rolled the dice.

   • 2011 September 3, Jesse Hirsch, “Local Grocery Stores Try to Find Traction in Tough Times”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Aug. 2012:

     Fresh & Easy is rolling the dice that Ms. Morris’s shopping patterns are not unique.

   • 2024 November 2, Katie Rogers, Nicholas Nehamas, Haberman, “Kamala Harris Joins ‘S.N.L.’ for a Pep Talk With Maya Rudolph”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Appearing on live television is a gamble for a presidential candidate, or for any celebrity, without acting experience, but previous contenders have rolled the dice, including Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2015 and Barack Obama in 2007.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see roll,‎ dice.

Synonyms

• take a flyer, take a gamble, take a risk

References

• “roll the dice”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.