chance
Americannoun
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chances
plural
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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.
- Antonyms:
- necessity
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luck or fortune.
a game of chance.
-
a possibility or probability of anything happening.
a fifty-percent chance of success.
- Synonyms:
- contingency
-
an opportune or favorable time; opportunity.
Now is your chance.
- Synonyms:
- opening
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Baseball. an opportunity to field the ball and make a putout or an assist.
-
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 byof ).
a fine chance of tomatoes, harvested fresh from the garden today.
-
Archaic. an unfortunate event; mishap.
verb (used without object)
-
chances,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chanced,
past participle, past
-
chancing
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
chances,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chanced,
past participle, past
-
chancing
present participle
adjective
verb phrase
idioms
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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.
-
on the chance, in the mild hope or against the possibility.
I'll wait on the chance that she'll come.
-
by chance, without plan or intent; accidentally.
I met her again by chance in a department store in Paris.
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
-
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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
-
-
accidentally
he slipped by chance
-
perhaps
do you by chance have a room?
-
-
it is likely (that) …
-
acting on the possibility; in case
-
the opportunity for personal gain (esp in the phrase an eye to the main chance )
verb
-
(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
-
to come upon by accident
he chanced on the solution to his problem
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to attempt to do something although the chance of success may be slight
Synonym Usage
See happen.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
chancesimple
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chancessimple
-
have chancedperfect
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has chancedperfect
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am chancingprogressive
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are chancingprogressive
-
is chancingprogressive
-
have been chancingperfect progressive
-
has been chancingperfect progressive
Past
-
chancedsimple
-
had chancedperfect
-
was chancingprogressive
-
were chancingprogressive
-
had been chancingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chance
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
Explanation
A chance is a possibility — but it's not a sure thing. There could be a chance of rain today or a chance you'll be the lead in the school play. Chance is sometimes about opportunity, as in getting a chance to try out for the baseball team. Sometimes it's just luck, as in taking a chance on a new car through a raffle at school. You could meet someone by chance, and you could say, "I chanced upon him at a coffee shop." Sometimes the word implies danger, as in "He took a chance when he signed up for skydiving." In any case, a chance is never a sure thing.
Vocabulary lists containing chance
Statistics and Probability - Middle School
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Workshop 3, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There is a chance that the San Diego River near Fashion Valley could reach minor flood stage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
However, investors may be more focused on the chance French billionaire Xavier Niel will lead a turnaround if he gets a seat on board, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"I had to halt everything. I bought a house in Nashville, I gardened, I saw a therapist and I gave myself a chance to miss music."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
We wouldn’t care — if last year’s best performer had an above-average chance of beating the market this year.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
Without the Nanuak, there would be no chance of destroying the bear.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Inevitably, such an anniversary will have some worrying that the bull is showing signs of age, with chances of its demise increasing as it trundles on.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
However, Wiegman's side are in a strong position for the play-offs and will fancy their chances against Greece, who sit 55 places beneath them in the Fifa world rankings.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
“Right now, it seems like Sunday night through Monday is the time period with the highest chances for rain,” Kittell said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Judge doesn’t have too many more chances, even if he is able to return to his previous form when the impending lockout ends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Benji was done talking about basketball and his slim chances of making the team.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
The odds on Tuesday for one rate hike in September were at 60%, while a second hike at the Fed’s December meeting was chanced at 36.7%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
While conducting research in the Prussian state archives in Berlin in the 1990s, he chanced upon the details of a “small vortex of turbulence” in Königsberg.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
He started out as a fiction writer who, while living in Paris, chanced upon avant-garde jazz and took up the saxophone.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025
Mr Sandiford said Mr Carney was out having a habitual walk in Hartlepool when he was "chanced" upon by Mr Alid on Avenue Road.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2024
So it chanced that several companies came together at the road-meeting, in the dark beyond the light of the watch-fires on the wall.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
He had heard stories of people chancing upon diamonds and hoped that he too would get lucky one day.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2024
The battle closed in and people started to risk escape, tying white flags to vehicles crammed with people and chancing it on the treacherous road out.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2022
The strings soar; the lyrics project defiance in the face of a controlling ex-partner who has made the mistake of chancing his arm again: “I’m not that chained-up little person still in love with you.”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2019
It’s very satisfying to see an actress like Ms. Kidman use everything in her artistic toolbox while also chancing the audience’s sympathy and love.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2018
Was it worth chancing it, or should he double back?
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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.
