"4D chess" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "An extension of the older term three-dimensional chess, which is an actual chess variant which is viewed as being very complex, and had long been used as a simile (\"like a game of 3-D chess\") in reference to geopolitics. The term 4D chess (\"four-dimensional chess\") became popular around 2017, in the context of US politics.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "4-D chess",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "four-dimensional chess",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      },
      "expansion": "4D chess (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              98
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 May 31, “The Enduring Appeal of Seeing Trump as Chess Master in Chief”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2025-04-27:",
          "text": "Steve Bannon, who once referred to Trump as a “blunt instrument” for his ideology, risks 4-D-chess-playing his way straight out of his position of influence, as his president has reportedly become either annoyed or threatened by his attempts to cast himself as the real grandmaster.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              31
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 May 31, “The Trump Administration Shakes ‘House of Cards’ Hard”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2025-05-29:",
          "text": "He plays four-dimensional chess while his current analogue often seems to play Whac-a-Mole.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              77,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 August 5, “Messi’s Departure Is a Mess Everyone Could See Coming”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2021-08-05:",
          "text": "These are the actions of a club flailing around to make things work, not the 4D chess moves of some Machiavellian puppet master.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sophisticated strategy that is far beyond the comprehension of others, in which apparent blunders are simply indicators of yet-to-be-understood brilliance."
      ],
      "id": "en-4D_chess-en-noun-4-EQCiIR",
      "links": [
        [
          "ironic",
          "irony"
        ],
        [
          "sophisticated",
          "sophisticated"
        ],
        [
          "strategy",
          "strategy"
        ],
        [
          "comprehension",
          "comprehension"
        ],
        [
          "apparent",
          "apparent"
        ],
        [
          "blunder",
          "blunder"
        ],
        [
          "indicator",
          "indicator"
        ],
        [
          "understood",
          "understand"
        ],
        [
          "brilliance",
          "brilliance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(usually ironic) A sophisticated strategy that is far beyond the comprehension of others, in which apparent blunders are simply indicators of yet-to-be-understood brilliance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ironic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "4D chess"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "An extension of the older term three-dimensional chess, which is an actual chess variant which is viewed as being very complex, and had long been used as a simile (\"like a game of 3-D chess\") in reference to geopolitics. The term 4D chess (\"four-dimensional chess\") became popular around 2017, in the context of US politics.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "4-D chess",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "four-dimensional chess",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "4D chess (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms spelled with numbers",
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        "English uncountable nouns",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              89,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 May 31, “The Enduring Appeal of Seeing Trump as Chess Master in Chief”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2025-04-27:",
          "text": "Steve Bannon, who once referred to Trump as a “blunt instrument” for his ideology, risks 4-D-chess-playing his way straight out of his position of influence, as his president has reportedly become either annoyed or threatened by his attempts to cast himself as the real grandmaster.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              9,
              31
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2017 May 31, “The Trump Administration Shakes ‘House of Cards’ Hard”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2025-05-29:",
          "text": "He plays four-dimensional chess while his current analogue often seems to play Whac-a-Mole.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              77,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 August 5, “Messi’s Departure Is a Mess Everyone Could See Coming”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2021-08-05:",
          "text": "These are the actions of a club flailing around to make things work, not the 4D chess moves of some Machiavellian puppet master.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sophisticated strategy that is far beyond the comprehension of others, in which apparent blunders are simply indicators of yet-to-be-understood brilliance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ironic",
          "irony"
        ],
        [
          "sophisticated",
          "sophisticated"
        ],
        [
          "strategy",
          "strategy"
        ],
        [
          "comprehension",
          "comprehension"
        ],
        [
          "apparent",
          "apparent"
        ],
        [
          "blunder",
          "blunder"
        ],
        [
          "indicator",
          "indicator"
        ],
        [
          "understood",
          "understand"
        ],
        [
          "brilliance",
          "brilliance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(usually ironic) A sophisticated strategy that is far beyond the comprehension of others, in which apparent blunders are simply indicators of yet-to-be-understood brilliance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ironic",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "4D chess"
}