"4D chess" meaning in English

See 4D chess in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: 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. Etymology templates: {{m|en|three-dimensional chess}} three-dimensional chess Head templates: {{head|en|noun}} 4D chess
  1. (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, usually Synonyms: 4-D chess, four-dimensional chess

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for 4D chess meaning in English (2.6kB)

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "three-dimensional chess"
      },
      "expansion": "three-dimensional chess",
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  ],
  "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.\nThe term 4D chess (\"four-dimensional chess\") became popular around 2017, in the context of US politics.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "4D chess",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "“Messi’s Departure Is a Mess Everyone Could See Coming”, in New York Times, 2021 August 5: “These are the actions of a club flailing around to make things work, not the 4D chess moves of some Machiavellian puppet master.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "“The Enduring Appeal of Seeing Trump as Chess Master in Chief”, in New York Times, 2017 May 31: “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.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "“The Trump Administration Shakes ‘House of Cards’ Hard”, in New York Times, 2017 May 31: “He plays four-dimensional chess while his current analogue often seems to play Whac-a-Mole.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "play 4D chess",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "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": [
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        [
          "blunders",
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        [
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          "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."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "4-D chess"
        },
        {
          "word": "four-dimensional chess"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "usually"
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    }
  ],
  "word": "4D chess"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "three-dimensional chess"
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      "expansion": "three-dimensional chess",
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  "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.\nThe term 4D chess (\"four-dimensional chess\") became popular around 2017, in the context of US politics.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "Undetermined terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "“Messi’s Departure Is a Mess Everyone Could See Coming”, in New York Times, 2021 August 5: “These are the actions of a club flailing around to make things work, not the 4D chess moves of some Machiavellian puppet master.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "“The Enduring Appeal of Seeing Trump as Chess Master in Chief”, in New York Times, 2017 May 31: “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.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "“The Trump Administration Shakes ‘House of Cards’ Hard”, in New York Times, 2017 May 31: “He plays four-dimensional chess while his current analogue often seems to play Whac-a-Mole.”"
        },
        {
          "text": "play 4D chess",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "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."
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      "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",
        "usually"
      ]
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "4-D chess"
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    {
      "word": "four-dimensional chess"
    }
  ],
  "word": "4D chess"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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