play chicken

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

engage in a risky competition to see who will back down first

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tham gia vào một cuộc cạnh tranh nguy hiểm để xem ai sẽ rút lui đầu tiên

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: play a game of chicken
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The two drivers played chicken on the highway.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “play chicken” mean?

engage in a risky competition to see who will back down first Literally: play a game of chicken

Is “play chicken” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.