Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sweepstakes |
SweepstakesNoun1. A lottery in which the prize consists of the money paid by the participants. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sweepstakes" was first used: 1773. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Business | In a -- the participants merely submit their names to have them included in a drawing of prize winners. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Sweepstakes (A). A race in which stakes are made by the owners of horses engaged, to be awarded to the winner or other horse in the race. In all sweepstakes entrance money has to be paid to the race fund. (See Plate, Selling-Race, Handicap, Weight-For-Age Race. ) If the horse runs, the full stake must be paid; but if it is withdrawn, a forfeit only is imposed. Also a gambling arrangement by which the successful bettor sweeps up or carries off all the other stakes. It is sometimes applied to a game of cards in which one of the players may win all the tricks or all the stakes. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: SweepstakesSynonym: sweepstake (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Acquisition | Sweepstakes, trick, prize, pool; pot; wealth. |
Receipt | Premium, bonus; sweepstakes, tontine. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Sweepstakes |
| Specialty definitions using "sweepstakes": St. Leger Sweepstakes ♦ Weight-for-age Race. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Sweepstakes" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (sweepstakes). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Celebrity Sweepstakes (1974) Sweepstakes Winner (1939) Hollywood Sweepstakes (1939) Alaska Sweepstakes (1936) Sweepstakes Annie (1935) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The Presidential sweepstakes of 1844. Preparing to start. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The great Presidential sweepstakes of 1856. Free for all ages, "go as they please". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Gotham sweepstakes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | M.J. McCarthy's entry, 3rd All-Alaska sweepstakes, Chester Bilby, driver. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Jessica, Corinthian sweepstakes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mineola, Corinthian Sweepstakes, August 17, 1891. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Dog team at Seventh All Alaska Sweepstakes, April 13, 1914. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Col. Ramsay's entry, winning dog sled team of the 3rd All Alaska Sweepstakes, John Johnson, driver. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Mr. Bowen and Mr. Delezene with racing sled in an All Alaska Sweepstakes. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Awaiting the finish at the Sixth All Alaska Sweepstakes. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Philippines | The government controls and operates the country's casinos through the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and runs lotto/sweepstake operations through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sweepstakes" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 75.00% of the time. "Sweepstakes" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 75% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (proper) | 25% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 4 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "sweepstakes": genetic-sweepstakes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
billion sweepstakes.com | 21 |
billions sweepstakes.com | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "sweepstakes"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | lotari (draw, lottery, raffle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | يا نصيب (lottery, raffle), السويبستيك ضرب من المراهنة. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | лотарийни залагания. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 赌金全赢制 (sweepstake). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | dostihová sázka. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | شرطبندی اسب دوانی(sweepstake). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sweepstakes, sweepstake. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Lotto (lottery, lotto, national lottery, raffle). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | λαχείο υποδρομιών. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מרוץ סוסים (horse race, stakes), "מורי סוסים (horse race). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | lóversenyfogadás. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | corsa di cavalli con lotteria. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 내기 경기 (sweepstake). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eepstakessway apostas em corridas de cavalos. (various references) totalizator (pool, totalizator, totalizer), pronosport (perm, pool). (various references) игра на скачках. (various references) opklada (bet, betting, parlay, wager), nagrada od uloga, klađenje (parlay). (various references) lotería de carreras. (various references) sweepstake. (various references) เงินรางวัลในการพนัน, การพนัน (bet, betting, gambling). (various references) piyango (lottery, raffle, sweepstake), müşterek bahis (sweepstake, tote-betting), çekiliş (draw, drawings, raffle, sweepstake). (various references) тоталізатор (parimutuel, sweepstake, totalizator, tote). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Middle English | 1100-1500 | swepestake. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sweepstakes" (pronounced swē"pstā'ks) |
| 4 | -t ā' k s | outtakes, undertakes. |
| 3 | -ā' k s | backaches, cupcakes, earthquakes, fruitcakes, handshakes, headaches, hotcakes, keepsakes, outbreaks, pancakes, rattlesnakes, snowflakes. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-e-e-k-p-s-s-s-t-w" | |
-1 letter: sweepstake. | |
-4 letters: asepses, askeses, pesetas, pesewas, seesaws, weakest. | |
-5 letters: assets, etapes, etwees, passee, passes, pastes, peases, peseta, pesewa, pewees, seesaw, sepses, skates, skeets, spates, speaks, stakes, stapes, stases, steaks, steeks, steeps, sweats, sweeps, sweets, tasses, tawses, teases, tepees, tweaks, wastes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
