by chance
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Put simply, physics appears to allow the possibility that our memories are not reliable records but instead detailed illusions produced by chance.
From Science Daily • May 3, 2026
“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband, by chance, at a New York City party in 1998,” she said.
From Salon • Apr. 9, 2026
But it was only by chance that I was by myself when my phone buzzed and displayed an on-screen message with some additional questions from the dog sitter I’d booked for our trip.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
Stewart said they met again by chance at a game fair in the summer of 1995, when they passed each other in an aisle.
From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026
One night, while Meme was in the bathroom, Fernanda went into her bedroom by chance and there were so many butterflies that she could scarcely breathe.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
