Library / English Dictionary

AT STAKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To be won or lost; at risk

Example:

perhaps a million dollars are at stake

Classified under:

Adverbs

Sense 2

Meaning:

In question or at issue

Example:

there is more at stake than your modesty

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

However, at any rate, 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.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It may be there is a soul at stake!

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Elinor's delight, as she saw what each felt in the meeting, was only checked by an apprehension of its robbing Marianne of farther sleep;—but Mrs. Dashwood could be calm, could be even prudent, when the life of a child was at stake, and Marianne, satisfied in knowing her mother was near her, and conscious of being too weak for conversation, submitted readily to the silence and quiet prescribed by every nurse around her.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

And then, realising the dreadful position in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would convulse the nation.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But not where such large interests are at stake?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"That's it," he said, "at a high moment, when what seems your life's happiness is at stake, you are afraid of life in the same old way—afraid of life and a healthy oath."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And here I find you, a man of sense, boggling about terms, when your client’s future and honour are at stake.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Were I even careless in general on such matters, how could you imagine me so where your happiness was at stake?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Is there not more at stake for us than for him?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Ah! my dear, as Perry says, where health is at stake, nothing else should be considered; and if one is to travel, there is not much to chuse between forty miles and an hundred.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)