chance

[ chans, chahns ]
See synonyms for: chancechances on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled: often personified or treated as a positive agency: Chance governs all.

  2. luck or fortune: a game of chance.

  1. a possibility or probability of anything happening: a fifty-percent chance of success.

  2. an opportune or favorable time; opportunity: Now is your chance.

  3. Baseball. an opportunity to field the ball and make a putout or an assist.

  4. a risk or hazard: Take a chance.

  5. a share or ticket in a lottery or prize drawing: The charity is selling chances for a dollar each.

  6. chances, probability: The chances are that the train hasn't left yet.

  7. Midland and Southern U.S. a quantity or number (usually followed by of): a fine chance of tomatoes, harvested fresh from the garden today.

  8. Archaic. an unfortunate event; mishap.

verb (used without object),chanced, chanc·ing.
  1. to happen or occur by chance: It chanced that our arrivals coincided.

verb (used with object),chanced, chanc·ing.
  1. to take the chances or risks of; risk (often followed by impersonal it): I'll have to chance it, whatever the outcome.

adjective
  1. not planned or expected; accidental: a chance occurrence.

Verb Phrases
  1. chance on / upon to come upon by chance; meet unexpectedly: She chanced on a rare kind of mushroom during her walk through the woods.

Idioms about chance

  1. by chance, without plan or intent; accidentally: I met her again by chance in a department store in Paris.

  2. on the chance, in the mild hope or against the possibility: I'll wait on the chance that she'll come.

  1. on the off chance, in the very slight hope or against the very slight possibility: I’m free Friday, on the off chance that you end up with a spare ticket to the concert.

Origin of chance

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English chaunce, chance, chea(u)nce, from Old French chance, cheance from unattested Vulgar Latin cadentia “a befalling, happening”; see cadenza

synonym study For chance

11. See happen.

Other words for chance

Opposites for chance

Other words from chance

  • chance·less, adjective
  • un·chanced, adjective

Words Nearby chance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use chance in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for chance

chance

/ (tʃɑːns) /


noun
    • the unknown and unpredictable element that causes an event to result in a certain way rather than another, spoken of as a real force

    • (as modifier): a chance meeting Related adjective: fortuitous

  1. fortune; luck; fate

  1. an opportunity or occasion

  2. a risk; gamble: you take a chance with his driving

  3. the extent to which an event is likely to occur; probability

  4. an unpredicted event, esp a fortunate one: that was quite a chance, finding him here

  5. archaic an unlucky event; mishap

  6. by chance

    • accidentally: he slipped by chance

    • perhaps: do you by chance have a room?

  7. chances are… or the chances are… it is likely (that) …

  8. on the chance acting on the possibility; in case

  9. the main chance the opportunity for personal gain (esp in the phrase an eye to the main chance)

verb
  1. (tr) to risk; hazard: I'll chance the worst happening

  2. to happen by chance; be the case by chance: I chanced to catch sight of her as she passed

  1. chance on or chance upon to come upon by accident: he chanced on the solution to his problem

  2. chance one's arm to attempt to do something although the chance of success may be slight

Origin of chance

1
C13: from Old French cheance, from cheoir to fall, occur, from Latin cadere

Derived forms of chance

  • chanceful, adjective
  • chanceless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with chance

chance

In addition to the idioms beginning with chance

  • chance it
  • chance on

also see:

  • by chance
  • Chinaman's chance
  • eye to the main chance
  • fat chance
  • fighting chance
  • jump at (the chance)
  • not have an earthly chance
  • on the (off) chance
  • snowball's chance in hell
  • sporting chance
  • stand a chance
  • take a chance
  • take one's chances

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.