chancy
Americanadjective
-
uncertain, hazardous, or risky.
- Synonyms:
- venturesome, dubious, doubtful, precarious
- Antonyms:
- predictable, certain, sure
-
random; haphazard; subject to chance.
-
Chiefly Scot. lucky.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chancy
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.
Why replace a proven technology—mirrors and glass—with chancy camera feeds and video displays?
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 25, 2026
From here on, the origin mythology of the astounding new orange is as serendipitous and chancy as the odds of human evolution happening again.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2024
Placing the orchestra on the stage might seem acoustically chancy: wouldn’t the sound overwhelm the singers?
From Seattle Times • Jan. 21, 2023
The first is the use of private funds, rather than the sole backing from space agencies and other governmental institutions, to conduct space science off-world, focusing on a chancy endeavour with no guarantee of success.
From Scientific American • Nov. 17, 2021
But here the countryside is too desolate and dry to live off the land, and begging is too chancy.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
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.
