fortune
- position in life as determined by wealth: to make one's fortune.
- wealth or riches: to lose a small fortune in bad investments.
- great wealth; ample stock of money, property, and the like: to be worth a fortune.
- chance; luck: They each had the bad fortune to marry the wrong person.
- fortunes. things that happen or are to happen to a person in his or her life.
- fate; lot; destiny: whatever my fortune may be.
- (initial capital letter) chance personified, commonly regarded as a mythical being distributing arbitrarily or capriciously the lots of life: Perhaps Fortune will smile on our venture.
- good luck; success; prosperity: a family blessed by fortune.
- Archaic. a wealthy woman; an heiress.
- Archaic. to endow (someone or something) with a fortune.
- Archaic. to chance or happen; come by chance.
- tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in his or her own life; foretell.
Origin of fortune
Synonyms for fortune
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comRelated Words for fortune
prosperity, substance, estate, inheritance, treasure, riches, opulence, portion, capital, property, affluence, worth, resources, fortuity, destiny, kismet, providence, life, star, expectationExamples from the Web for fortune
Contemporary Examples of fortune
Stanley Richards, Senior Vice President of the Fortune Society, gave a tour along with a few residents.
The building used to be an all-girls school, and when it was initially purchased by Fortune it was dilapidated.
“I suppose she'll want a fortune as well,” he says, looking at me as if I were Liv Ullmann's agent.
The city became a Mecca for hordes of hipsters and creative types as well as young people seeking their fortune in finance.
According to lore, 145 of these original soldiers of fortune either fled battle or were captured and settled in the area.
Historical Examples of fortune
"It's like starting West again to make our fortune," said Uncle Peter.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Avice Milbrey had the fortune to witness one of these bed-time causeries.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Almost every Barbarian at the table had made his own fortune.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
He went dazedly in to him,—and was awakened from the dream that he had been losing a fortune in his sleep.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Meanwhile, fortune had improved with Mr. Davis, the superintendent of the factory.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
fortune
- an amount of wealth or material prosperity, esp, when unqualified, a great amount
- small fortune a large sum of money
- a power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs; chance
- luck, esp when favourable
- (often plural) a person's lot or destiny
- archaic
- (tr)to endow with great wealth
- (intr)to happen by chance
Word Origin for fortune
Word Origin and History for fortune
c.1300, "chance, luck as a force in human affairs," from Old French fortune "lot, good fortune, misfortune" (12c.), from Latin fortuna "chance, fate, good luck," from fors (genitive fortis) "chance, luck," possibly from PIE *bhrtu- and related to base *bher- (1) "to carry" (see infer).
Often personified as a goddess; her wheel betokens vicissitude. Sense of "owned wealth" first found in Spenser; probably it evolved from senses of "one's condition or standing in life," hence "position as determined by wealth," then "wealth" itself. Soldier of fortune first attested 1660s. Fortune 500 "most profitable American companies" is 1955, from the list published annually in "Fortune" magazine.
Idioms and Phrases with fortune
fortune
see make a fortune.