chance
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.
luck or fortune: a game of chance.
a possibility or probability of anything happening: a fifty-percent chance of success.
an opportune or favorable time; opportunity: Now is your chance.
a risk or hazard: Take a chance.
a share or ticket in a lottery or prize drawing: The charity is selling chances for a dollar each.
chances, probability: The chances are that the train hasn't left yet.
Midland and Southern U.S. a quantity or number (usually followed by of): a fine chance of tomatoes, harvested fresh from the garden today.
Archaic. an unfortunate event; mishap.
to happen or occur by chance: It chanced that our arrivals coincided.
to take the chances or risks of; risk (often followed by impersonal it): I'll have to chance it, whatever the outcome.
not planned or expected; accidental: a chance occurrence.
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
by chance, without plan or intent; accidentally: I met her again by chance in a department store in Paris.
on the chance, in the mild hope or against the possibility: I'll wait on the chance that she'll come.
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
1synonym study For chance
Other words for chance
Opposites for chance
Other words from chance
- chance·less, adjective
- un·chanced, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use chance in a sentence
It happens, of course, but the less time a person is sick, the better their chances of recovery.
This slows the rate of all the above processes and increases the chances that someone can recover quickly enough to wake up.
What It’s Like to Wake Up Dead | Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad | November 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST"We knew the chances and we knew that the statistics and luck were not necessarily in our favor," she said.
So Venediktov has decided to take the “illegal attacks” on the station to court, though his chances of success are low.
The Kremlin Is Killing Echo of Moscow, Russia’s Last Independent Radio Station | Anna Nemtsova | November 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNot so long ago, many were predicting that the government shutdown would kill Republican chances in 2014.
Voters Remind D.C. That the Economy Still Sucks | Stuart Stevens | November 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He realized, as his mother had realized a little while before, that in Garnache they had an opponent who took no chances.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniAdequate, of course; no sense in taking chances with lives that cost so much fuel to bring here.
Fee of the Frontier | Horace Brown FyfeHe was never so happy as when taking chances; his whole life was a gamble, with Providence holding the bank.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. LockeThe chances of success must also greatly depend upon the kind of soil on which it is used.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry | Thomas AndersonThis she had the wit to detect, as well as the incontrovertible fact that her youth and her chances were gone.
Ancestors | Gertrude Atherton
British Dictionary definitions for chance
/ (tʃɑːns) /
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
fortune; luck; fate
an opportunity or occasion
a risk; gamble: you take a chance with his driving
the extent to which an event is likely to occur; probability
an unpredicted event, esp a fortunate one: that was quite a chance, finding him here
archaic an unlucky event; mishap
by chance
accidentally: he slipped by chance
perhaps: do you by chance have a room?
chances are… or the chances are… it is likely (that) …
on the chance acting on the possibility; in case
the main chance the opportunity for personal gain (esp in the phrase an eye to the main chance)
(tr) to risk; hazard: I'll chance the worst happening
to happen by chance; be the case by chance: I chanced to catch sight of her as she passed
chance on or chance upon to come upon by accident: he chanced on the solution to his problem
chance one's arm to attempt to do something although the chance of success may be slight
Origin of chance
1Derived 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
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.
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