What does "trump" mean?
The suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others.
Trump
/tɹʌmp/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others.
- Grammar: trump is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: ruff, trump card, ace, action.
- Useful contrasts: confirm, disadvantage, disprove.
- Usage evidence: The time has come for you to play your trump card.
How to use "trump"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "trump" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 The suit, in a game of cards, that outranks all others.
"Diamonds were declared trump(s)."
- 2 A trumpet. archaic
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible"
- 3 Synonym of Jew's harp. dated
- 4 a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a narrow tube and a flared bell and is played by means of valves wordnet
- 5 A playing card of that suit.
"He played an even higher trump."
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 A fart. UK, colloquial
- 7 (card games) the suit that has been declared to rank above all other suits for the duration of the hand wordnet
- 8 Something that gives one an advantage, especially one held in reserve. figuratively
"VVere Iacke Strawe a liue againe, And I in as good poſſibility as euer I was, I would lay a ſurer trumpe, Ere I would loſe ſo faire a tricke."
- 9 The noise made by an elephant through its trunk.
- 10 a playing card in the suit that has been declared trumps wordnet
- 11 An excellent person; a fine fellow, a good egg. archaic, colloquial
"[W]e permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place; shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our WASHINGTON."
- 12 An old card game, almost identical to whist; the game of ruff.
"There be many one that breaketh this carde,[…]and playeth there with oftentimes at the blinde trompe, wherby they be no winners but great losers"
- 13 A card of the major arcana of the tarot.
Verb
- 1 To play on (a card of another suit) with a trump. transitive
"He knew the hand was lost when his ace was trumped."
- 2 To blow a trumpet.
- 3 proclaim or announce with or as if with a fanfare wordnet
- 4 To play a trump, or to take a trick with a trump. intransitive
- 5 To fart. UK, colloquial, intransitive
"And without warning me, as he lay there, he suddenly trumped next to me in bed."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 play a trump wordnet
- 7 To get the better of, or finesse, a competitor. transitive
"to trick or trump mankind"
- 8 get the better of wordnet
- 9 To impose unfairly; to palm off. dated, transitive
"Authors have been trumped upon us."
- 10 produce a sound as if from a trumpet wordnet
- 11 To supersede. transitive
"In this election, it would seem issues of national security trumped economic issues."
- 12 To outweigh; be stronger, greater, bigger than or in other way superior to. transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from German. countable, uncountable
"The house at which he was to lodge had been selected with considerable judgment. It was kept by a tidy old widow known as Mrs. Trump; but those who knew any thing of Hamworth affairs were well aware that Mrs. Trump had been left without a shilling, and could not have taken that snug little house in Paradise Row and furnished it completely out of her own means."
- 2 A surname from German.; Donald Trump (b. 1946), a businessman, television personality, and current president of the United States of America (2017–2021, 2025–present). countable, uncountable
"During their interview, Shahidi asked Clinton about the uncomfortable second presidential debate, during which Trump stalked her around the stage."
- 3 A ghost town in Park County, Colorado, United States. countable, uncountable
- 4 An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"The time has come for you to play your trump card."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "trump"?
Common synonyms include: ruff, trump card, ace, action, ad hoc measure, advantage.
How do you use "trump" in a sentence?
The time has come for you to play your trump card.
How do you pronounce "trump"?
Pronounced /tɹʌmp/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Possibly from French triomphe (“triumph”) or Old French triumphe. If so, it is a doublet of triumph and thriambus. Compare German Trumpf.
Etymology 2
From Middle English trumpe, trompe (“trumpet”), from Old French trompe (“horn, trump, trumpet”), from Frankish *trumpa (“trumpet”), from a common Germanic word of imitative origin. Doublet of tulumba and tromp. Akin to Old High German trumpa, trumba (“horn, trumpet”), Middle Dutch tromme (“drum”), Middle Low German trumme (“drum”). More at trumpet, drum.
Etymology 3
Ellipsis of Jew's-trump, which may be from French jeu-trompe (literally “toy trumpet”).
Etymology 4
The surname has two sources. * English (Devon): an occupational name for a trumpeter, from Middle English trumpe (“trumpet”). * German (Bavaria): from German Trump, possibly an occupational name for a drummer, from Middle High German trumbe (“drum”), although the alternative forms Trumpf, Drumpf cannot be derived from this (except by postulating them to be hypercorrections) * The place in Baltimore county was named after settler Simeon Van Trump.