“At stake” means that something valuable is in danger of being lost. The guide stays with current documented meaning and does not add unsupported origin chronology.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionPhrases & Idioms
Quick answer
“At stake” means that something valuable is in danger of being lost or harmed.
Key details
Canonical FormAt Stake
Core Meaningin danger of being lost, especially when something valuable depends on what happens
Further guidance
Contextual Examples
With the contract renewal undecided, several jobs are at stake.
The team treated the hearing seriously because its reputation was at stake.
History Boundary
This guide explains the current documented meaning and does not claim a single inventor, exact coinage date, or absolute first use without direct historical evidence.
Meaning
in danger of being lost, especially when something valuable depends on what happens
Meaning Boundary
Something can be important without being “at stake.” The phrase adds the idea of risk or possible loss.
Practical Use
Use “at stake” when an outcome could cause something valued—such as money, a job, a reputation, a right, or another important interest—to be lost or harmed.
Usage Boundary
Use it when a valued outcome, resource, life, job, reputation, or similar interest could be lost—not merely when something is important.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
A “black swan” is an event that happens despite people having thought it could not happen. Use the figurative sense for a supposedly impossible or profoundly unexpected event; keep it distinct from the literal black swan bird, and do not treat every ordinary surprise as a black swan.
The butterfly effect describes disproportionate downstream consequences from a small change. Cambridge connects the phrase with chaos theory; in general use, keep the emphasis on a small initial change producing a much larger outcome rather than on ordinary direct causation.
Oxford defines “a canary in a/the coal mine” as something that gives an early warning of danger. This guide uses that current figurative meaning without claiming an unsupported exact first use.
A “chain reaction” describes a series of events in which each event causes the next one. In figurative use, focus on the causal sequence; the expression also has a literal scientific sense, so context determines which reading applies.
In figurative and business use, critical mass is a threshold: enough people, customers, resources or scale for a development to become possible or self-sustaining. Context separates that use from the literal physics meaning.
A “domino effect” describes a situation in which one event causes a series of related events to happen one after another. Use it when the emphasis is on sequential consequences spreading from an initial event, not simply on two events happening at the same time.
The proverb warns against treating an uncertain future success as if it were already secured. It is useful when someone is spending, scheduling, promising, or celebrating on the assumption that an unresolved outcome will go their way.
