Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure, especially games of chance: Describes a person who is habitually and excessively devoted to playing card games, often involving gambling or wagering.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • He was known as a card-playing man who spent most evenings at the club. (He was known as a man who habitually played cards, often spending his evenings at the club.)
  • The novel portrays a card-playing aristocrat who loses his fortune. (The novel portrays an aristocrat who is obsessed with playing cards and gambles away his wealth.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a connotation of dissipation or a lifestyle centered around gambling and leisure, rather than casual or social play.
  • The will disinherited the card-playing son, deeming him irresponsible. (The will excluded the son who was preoccupied with gambling, considering him irresponsible.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cardplayer (noun): A person who plays cards.
• Gambling (noun/adj): The act of playing games of chance for money; related to wagering.
• Dissipated (adj): Indulging excessively in sensual pleasures.

Synonyms

• Gambling
• Betting
• Sporting (archaic in this sense)

Related Phrases and Idioms

• While "card-playing" itself is not typically part of a phrasal verb, it is used in descriptive phrases.
  • A life of card-playing and debauchery. (A life devoted to gambling and excessive indulgence.)

Adjective

1. preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and especially games of chance
   • led a dissipated life
   • a betting man
   • a card-playing son of a bitch
   • a gambling fool
   • sporting gents and their ladies