Trifecta

In American horse racing terminology, a trifecta is an exotic parimutuel bet in which the bettor must predict which horses will finish first, second, and third in exact order.

Related Topics:
Horse racing - Parimutuel bet

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The term has been extended to the realm of politics, where it is used to describe a situation in which an executive of government appoints another elected official to a position and is also allowed to appoint his successor. This process can be chained together; in other words, the executive can appoint an elected official to a position, appoint another elected official to the other's previous position, and finally appoint anyone to the second official's position. The first permutation of this chain is called a "quadfecta".

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The trifecta system is seen by many as a loophole in democracy, because it allows an executive to essentially override a choice by the voters. This is mitigated by the fact that the system requires the agreement of all parties involved. Executives have been able to get around this by making the position offered a very financially lucrative or long term one.

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In first-person shooter video games such as Counter-Strike, a trifecta can refer to a situation in which a single bullet kills three players.

Related Topics:
First-person shooter - Counter-Strike

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A trifecta can also refer to any sequence of three (generally unfortunate) occurrences, drawing on the traditional belief that deaths (and presumably, disasters and other bad things) always come in groups of three.

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The word trifecta is also slang for a three-point field goal in the game of basketball.

Related Topics:
Field goal - Basketball

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Trifecta is the name of a female group founded in 2005. The founding members were Courtney K. (brunette), Kristin W. (blonde), and Phanessa P. (redhead). Not much is revealed about the group except that the name was chosen to signify an uncommon or unique trio.

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