fortune

[fawr-chuhn]

noun

1. position in life as determined by wealth.

   It's not easy to make one's fortune from humble beginnings.

2. wealth or riches.

   He lost a small fortune in bad investments.

3. great wealth; ample stock of money, property, and the like.

   Those gems are worth a fortune.

4. chance; luck.

   They each had the bad fortune to marry the wrong person.

   Synonyms: karma, kismet, providence, destiny, fate

5. fortunes. things that happen or are to happen to a person in their life.

   Her charitable spirit stayed with her even as her fortunes changed with marriage.

6. fate; lot; destiny.

   Whatever my fortune may be, my faith will guide me.

7. Fortune. chance personified, commonly regarded as a mythical being distributing arbitrarily or capriciously the lots of life.

   Perhaps Fortune will smile on our venture.

   Synonyms: Lady Luck, Moira

8. good luck; success; prosperity.

   The family was blessed by fortune.

9. Archaic.,  a wealthy woman; an heiress.

verb (used with object)

fortuned, fortuning 

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

verb (used without object)

fortuned, fortuning 

1. Archaic.,  to chance or happen; come by chance.

fortune

/ ˈfɔːtʃən /

noun

1. an amount of wealth or material prosperity, esp, when unqualified, a great amount

2. a large sum of money

3. a power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs; chance

4. luck, esp when favourable

5. (often plural) a person's lot or destiny

verb

1. archaic

   1. (tr) to endow with great wealth

   2. (intr) to happen by chance

Other Word Forms

• fortuneless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fortune¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fortūna “chance, luck, fortune,” derivative of fort- (stem of fors ) “chance”

Word History and Origins

Origin of fortune¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in their own life; foretell.

see make a fortune.

Example Sentences

Though there isn’t a frozen burrito on the menu of Duane’s menu, Roberts remained enormously proud of the product that had made his fortune.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Premier League's recent dominance over La Liga opponents is reflected by their improving fortunes in the Champions League.

Read more on BBC

The days when dictators could live in gilded exile with fortunes in secret Swiss bank accounts are mostly over, primarily because of global mechanisms for adjudicating human-rights abuses and tracking ill-gotten gains.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The announcement puts an end to the entrepreneur and philanthropist’s first-ever political campaign, which he funded through a fortune amassed in the real estate industry.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The baseballs turned into fast cash for two Blue Jays fans and one Dodgers fan who secured their possession through good fortune and quick thinking.

Read more on Los Angeles Times