Trifecta
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A bet in which the bettor must select the first three placegetters of a race in the order in which they finish. Australia, New-Zealand, US
"The conservative player will play the exacta box bet and the occasional trifecta box wager."
- 2 The attainment of three important achievements, qualities, etc. Australia, New-Zealand, US, figuratively
"The money picture for Santorum could change after his trifecta win in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri Tuesday night."
- 3 A set of three related things, often things that cause problems. Australia, New-Zealand, US, broadly
"Along with runtime errors, two other errors we saw earlier round out the JavaScript bug trifecta: syntax errors, logic errors, and runtime errors."
- 4 The complete legislative and executive control of state or federal government by one party: governorship, the upper house, and the lower house of state or federal legislatures. Australia, New-Zealand, US
"In fact, there are about a dozen states, including California, Massachusetts, Washington, and Illinois, where Democrats have won the trifecta—they control the governor's seat as well as both houses of the state legislature."
Example
More examples"The conservative player will play the exacta box bet and the occasional trifecta box wager."
Etymology
From tri- + (per)fecta.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.