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
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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.
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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)
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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
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archaic an unlucky event; mishap
-
-
accidentally
he slipped by chance
-
perhaps
do you by chance have a room?
-
-
it is likely (that) …
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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
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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:
Its three leaders’ recommendations could be a chance for Warsh to put a new stamp on how the central bank tackles rising prices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
For Brooks, the exercise offered a chance to reconnect with what drew him to movies in the first place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Whilst no two events are the same, the current developing El Niño could mean a greater chance of stormy autumn weather in the UK.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Marco Casiraghi, senior economist at Evercore ISI, said Bessent’s plans don’t kill any chance of a rake hike.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
“Nothing! I just figured that we had a chance to escape if we left right away, before Miss Clerk had settled back in.”
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
That’s like my hobby because there are not many chances in L.A. that you get to drive across bridges of that magnitude.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Many of the strategies used to manage osteoarthritis may also help reduce the chances of developing it.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
And so if you’re a sports fan, you sometimes have that sinking feeling when you’re watching your team get too defensive, and they stop taking chances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
So the chances of a current crash are well below average.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
If the crew did not reach one of the islands, their chances of survival were very small.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Ionic Mineral Technologies was mining the clay in Utah when it chanced upon what could be the critical mineral equivalent of a gold mine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
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
The British director Titley said she chanced upon the reality show and reached out to Nasubi because she felt no one had ever told his side of the story.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
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
She chanced a glance and saw her family and coven engaged in battle with the Cursed Toads.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
“I was chancing my arm seeing if I could get flying lessons,” Jean-Baptiste continues, laughing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 7, 2025
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
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
“We will,” Lily replies, chancing a smile at me.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.
