at stake
English
Etymology
See stake.
Pronunciation
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Prepositional phrase
- (idiomatic) At issue, at risk.
- What is at stake in these next 20 minutes is the championship.
- Doesn't he realize that all of our lives are at stake here too?
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- I see my reputation is at stake
My fame is shrewdly gored.
- 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 14:
- How, Lucia, wou’dst thou have me sink away
In pleasing Dreams, and lose my self in Love,
When ev’ry moment Cato’s Life’s at Stake?
- 1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
- […] as I have a great deal more at stake on this point than anybody else can have, I think it rather unnecessary in you to be advising me.
Translations
at issue, at risk
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