fortune

[ fawr-chuhn ]

/ ˈfɔr tʃən /

|||

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fortune ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object), for·tuned, for·tun·ing.

Archaic. to endow (someone or something) with a fortune.

verb (used without object), for·tuned, for·tun·ing.

Archaic. to chance or happen; come by chance.

Nearby words

Idioms

tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in his or her own life; foretell.

Origin of fortune

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin fortūna chance, luck, fortune, derivative of fort- (stem of fors) chance

SYNONYMS FOR fortune

4. fate, destiny, providence; kismet, karma. 7. Moira; Lady Luck.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fortune ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsfor·tune·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for fortune

Stanley Richards, Senior Vice President of the Fortune Society, gave a tour along with a few residents.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside|Justin Rohrlich|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The building used to be an all-girls school, and when it was initially purchased by Fortune it was dilapidated.
His First Day Out Of Jail After 40 Years: Adjusting To Life Outside|Justin Rohrlich|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“I suppose she'll want a fortune as well,” he says, looking at me as if I were Liv Ullmann's agent.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The city became a Mecca for hordes of hipsters and creative types as well as young people seeking their fortune in finance.
Eric Garner Was Just a Number to Them|Michael Daly|December 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST

According to lore, 145 of these original soldiers of fortune either fled battle or were captured and settled in the area.
The Chinese Town Descended From Romans?|Nina Strochlic|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Broken in health and in fortune, he went to Colorado in 1879, where he remained seven years.
Recollections of Abraham Lincoln 1847-1865|Ward Hill Lamon
If they should change places, fortune would change with them.
The Oxford Book of American Essays|Various
It was a common belief on that street that his fortune was stuffed away in some of the threadbare cushions.
Travelers Five Along Life's Highway|Annie Fellows Johnston
Agreement can make its own fortune, and need not wait to be endowed.
History of American Socialisms|John Humphrey Noyes
How fatal then, how tormenting, how intolerable, must her reverse of fortune be!
The Adventures of Roderick Random|Tobias Smollett

British Dictionary definitions for fortune

fortune

/ (ˈfɔːtʃən) /

noun

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

verb

archaic

(tr)to endow with great wealth
(intr)to happen by chance

Derived Formsfortuneless, adjective

Word Origin for fortune

C13: from Old French, from Latin fortūna, from fors chance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for fortune

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.

fortune

noun

verb (used with object), for·tuned, for·tun·ing.

verb (used without object), for·tuned, for·tun·ing.

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Origin of fortune

Examples from the Web for fortune

fortune

noun

verb

Word Origin for fortune

fortune

fortune