LOTTERY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lottery mean? 

• LOTTERY (noun)
  The noun LOTTERY has 2 senses:

1. something that is regarded as a chance event

2. players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed by casting lots

  Familiarity information: LOTTERY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOTTERY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that is regarded as a chance event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the election was just a lottery to them

Hypernyms ("lottery" is a kind of...):

accident; chance event; fortuity; stroke (anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed by casting lots

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

drawing; lottery

Hypernyms ("lottery" is a kind of...):

gambling game; game of chance (a game that involves gambling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lottery"):

tombola (a lottery in which tickets are drawn from a revolving drum)

lucky dip (a game in which prizes (e.g., candies or coins) are concealed in a container and for a small sum a player can draw one out at random)

numbers; numbers game; numbers pool; numbers racket (an illegal daily lottery)

raffle (a lottery in which the prizes are goods rather than money)

sweepstakes (a lottery in which the prize consists of the money paid by the participants)

 Context examples 

He loved to play Chinese lottery.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

This was agreed to, and Mrs. Phillips protested that they would have a nice comfortable noisy game of lottery tickets, and a little bit of hot supper afterwards.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

More honestly than if I'd won it in a lottery. I earned it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Lydia talked incessantly of lottery tickets, of the fish she had lost and the fish she had won; and Mr. Collins in describing the civility of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, protesting that he did not in the least regard his losses at whist, enumerating all the dishes at supper, and repeatedly fearing that he crowded his cousins, had more to say than he could well manage before the carriage stopped at Longbourn House.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

At first there seemed danger of Lydia's engrossing him entirely, for she was a most determined talker; but being likewise extremely fond of lottery tickets, she soon grew too much interested in the game, too eager in making bets and exclaiming after prizes to have attention for anyone in particular.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)