MEANING
To be personally involved in an undertaking and exposed to its gains, losses or consequences.
Use it for
describing a person with something at stake; distinguishing committed participation from detached advice; discussing incentives tied to outcomes; showing exposure to the consequences of a decisionDistinguishes a consequential personal stake from detached advice or commentary. Writing functions: Personal stake.
Words that belong together
- have real skin in the game
- have no skin in the game
On the page
The founders retained shares so that they would still have skin in the game.
Residents argued that consultants with no skin in the game were deciding the neighborhood’s future.
Word forms
- Base
- have skin in the game
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: have/has/had/had/having skin in the game. Skin is uncountable. Often a financial or other consequential personal stake. Register: informal. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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