1. A chess move constituting an inescapable and indefensible attack on the opponent's king
   "With a clever checkmate, she won the tournament";
   - mate
    
2. Complete victory
   "His brilliant move resulted in a checkmate, ending the chess match"

1. (chess) place an opponent's king under an attack from which it cannot escape and thus ending the game
   "Kasparov checkmated his opponent after only a few moves";
   - mate

Derived forms: checkmates, checkmated, checkmating

Type of: beat, beat out, chess move, crush, shell [US], triumph, trounce, vanquish, victory

Encyclopedia: Checkmate