# trifecta
## English
### Etymology

From tri- +‎ (per)fecta.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɹaɪˈfɛktə/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Noun

trifecta (plural trifectas) (US, Australia, New Zealand)
* (gambling) A bet in which the bettor must select the first three placegetters of a race in the order in which they finish.
** 2006, Vincent Conti, Thoroughbred Horse Racing Systems and Methodologies, page 9:The conservative player will play the exacta box bet and the occasional trifecta box wager.
** 2010, Leonard A. Asimow, Mark M. Maxwell, Probability and Statistics with Applications: A Problem Solving Text, page 10:In a trifecta, you must wager on three horses: the one that finishes first (win), the one that finishes second (place), and the one that finishes third (show) in order.
* (figurative) The attainment of three important achievements, qualities, etc.
** 2012 February 8, Jackie Koszczuk, “Santorum Is Still Losing the Most Important Race: Money”, in The Atlantic‎:The money picture for Santorum could change after his trifecta win in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri Tuesday night.
** 2024 May 7, Peter Baker, “Inside the White House Scramble to Broker a Deal in Gaza”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:At the same time, he said, it could be that Mr. Netanyahu is “seeking a trifecta” with the strikes on Monday: pushing Hamas to give in, showing the Israeli public that he did hit Rafah as promised and getting credit from the Biden administration for not mounting the full-scale assault that Washington fears would result in a civilian catastrophe.
* (by extension) A set of three related things, often things that cause problems.
** 2007, Michael Morrison, Head First JavaScript, page 525:Along with runtime errors, two other errors we saw earlier round out the JavaScript bug trifecta: syntax errors, logic errors, and runtime errors.
** 2013 November 27, Emily Jane O'Dell, “Deep cover”, in The New York Times‎:I might never have learned my name or met my birth family if I hadn't ended up in the hospital in Rhode Island in 2007, after traveling to a trifecta of malaria hotspots: Mali, Egypt and Colombia.
** 2024 March 10, Fran Hoepfner, “What Billy Crystal Knew About Hosting the Oscars”, in The Atlantic‎:And the Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall trifecta stumbled through inconsistent chemistry as they, too, attempted to insult their peers.
* (US politics) 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.
** 2013 June 26, Steven Hill, “So the Voting Rights Act Is Gutted—What Can Protect Minority Voters Now?”, in The Atlantic‎: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.
** 2023 December 12, Jamelle Bouie, “Red States and Blue States Are Becoming Different Countries”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:It’s not just Florida, of course. Republican trifectas in states across the country have introduced and passed dozens of bills aimed at the public existence of trans and other gender-nonconforming people.

#### Related terms

* perfecta
* superfecta
* quadfecta

#### See also

* exacta

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɾiˈfeɡta/ [t̪ɾiˈfeɣ̞.t̪a]
* Rhymes: -eɡta
* Syllabification: tri‧fec‧ta

### Noun

trifecta f (plural trifectas)
* trifecta

### Further reading

* “trifecta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10