fortune

[fawr-chuhn]

noun

1. position in life as determined by wealth.

   It's not easy to make one's fortune from humble beginnings.

2. wealth or riches.

   He lost a small fortune in bad investments.

3. great wealth; ample stock of money, property, and the like.

   Those gems are worth a fortune.

4. chance; luck.

   They each had the bad fortune to marry the wrong person.

   Synonyms: karma, kismet, providence, destiny, fate

5. fortunes. things that happen or are to happen to a person in their life.

   Her charitable spirit stayed with her even as her fortunes changed with marriage.

6. fate; lot; destiny.

   Whatever my fortune may be, my faith will guide me.

7. Fortune. chance personified, commonly regarded as a mythical being distributing arbitrarily or capriciously the lots of life.

   Perhaps Fortune will smile on our venture.

   Synonyms: Lady Luck, Moira

8. good luck; success; prosperity.

   The family was blessed by fortune.

9. Archaic.,  a wealthy woman; an heiress.

verb (used with object)

fortuned, fortuning 

1. Archaic.,  to endow (someone or something) with a fortune.

verb (used without object)

fortuned, fortuning 

1. Archaic.,  to chance or happen; come by chance.

fortune

/ ˈfɔːtʃən /

noun

1. an amount of wealth or material prosperity, esp, when unqualified, a great amount

2. a large sum of money

3. a power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs; chance

4. luck, esp when favourable

5. (often plural) a person's lot or destiny

verb

1. archaic

   1. (tr) to endow with great wealth

   2. (intr) to happen by chance

Other Word Forms

• fortuneless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fortune¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fortūna “chance, luck, fortune,” derivative of fort- (stem of fors ) “chance”

Word History and Origins

Origin of fortune¹

C13: from Old French, from Latin fortūna , from fors chance

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in their own life; foretell.

see make a fortune.

Example Sentences

DeVos once said she wanted “to advance God’s kingdom” through vouchers for religious schools and has funneled vast amounts of her family fortune into advocating for school choice.

Read more on Salon

Each pine marten has been fitted with a radio collar so researchers can follow their fortunes over the next six to nine months.

Read more on BBC

But the party has also been debating whether the Thatcherite era holds any lessons for Badenoch, as she faces the task of restoring her party's fortunes.

Read more on BBC

“I had the honor… the good fortune of getting to know, getting to spend months working with this Queen on Vice Principals.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Fine margins indeed - but there is no denying the remarkable swing in fortunes.

Read more on BBC