Meaning & use
deuce
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Meanings
noununcountablesport
A tennis score of forty points each, after which one player must win two points in a row to take the game.
Grammar: Used as a score call without an article: the score is deuce.
Patterns
- go to deuce
- at deuce
After a long rally the game went to deuce.
At deuce, she hit an ace to take the advantage.
The match stayed at deuce for nearly ten minutes.
nouncountable
A playing card or die side with two spots, or the number two on one.
Grammar: Used in card games and dice: draw a deuce.
Patterns
- the deuce of something
He drew the deuce of hearts and groaned.
Rolling a deuce lost her the round.
In that game, the deuce counts as the highest card.
nounsingularinformalold-fashioned
A mild, old-fashioned exclamation word for the devil, used to show surprise or annoyance.
Grammar: Appears in set phrases with the: what the deuce, the deuce of a problem.
Patterns
- what the deuce
- the deuce of a something
What the deuce are you doing in my garden?
It was the deuce of a job to get the piano upstairs.
Where the deuce did I put my glasses?
Word forms
| plural | deuces |
|---|
Common combinations
- go to deuce
- The set went to deuce after both players held serve.
- play a deuce game
- They played a deuce game that lasted fifteen minutes.
- win from deuce
- She won from deuce with two strong serves.
- what the deuce
- What the deuce is that noise upstairs?
- deuce court
- He served wide into the deuce court.
Synonyms and how they differ
- forty-all
- Forty-all is the formal way some umpires call a tie at forty, whereas deuce is the usual call after the third point each.
- two
- Two is the plain number, while deuce is the name used for the card, die or score.
- devil
- Devil is the straightforward word, but deuce is a softer, dated way of exclaiming without swearing.
Word family
- deuced adjective
- old-fashioned word meaning damned or extreme
- deucedly adverb
- old-fashioned word meaning extremely
- deuces noun
- plural, or a card game call
Commonly confused: deuce or juice? deuce or draw?
deuce vs juice
Juice sounds almost the same in American speech, but it means the liquid from fruit and is spelled differently.
deuce vs draw
A draw is a tied result in sports. Deuce is only the tied score inside a tennis game.
Practice
Both players had forty points, so the umpire called ____.
Choose one answer.
Deuce is the call when both players reach forty. Advantage comes after deuce, love means zero, and juice is a spelling-sound confusion.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “deuce”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.