fortune

American  

[fawr-chuhn] / ˈfɔr tʃən /

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.

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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.

idioms

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

fortune British  

/ 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

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verb

1. archaic

   1. (tr) to endow with great wealth

   2. (intr) to happen by chance

fortune More Idioms  

1. see make a fortune.

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Other Word Forms

• fortuneless adjective

Etymology

Origin of fortune

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

Explanation

A fortune can be a large amount of money, and fortune is a form of fate. So you want to have the good fortune to make a fortune during your career. Fortuna was the Roman goddess of fate and luck. She was sometimes depicted with a wheel, and the random spinning of her "wheel of fortune" became a symbol for the unpredictability of fate (and, much later, the title of a popular game show). A fortune teller can look into her crystal ball or tarot cards and predict your future. But her predictions are probably about as accurate as the "prophecy" that comes inside your fortune cookie.

Example Sentences

Clare Crockett's ambition was once for fame and fortune as a Hollywood actress.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

In his early 30s, he co-founded Cerberus and made a fortune by taking over distressed companies such as supermarket chain Albertsons and revamping their operations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026

The pair said their grandfather had intended to share the wealth from the mines at Hope Downs with them but Rinehart had deliberately denied them access to the fortune.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026

His total assets are valued at between $131 million and $209 million, a fortune dwarfing that of any previous Fed chair.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

“I’ll get my hands on your fortune if it’s the last thing I do,” the voice hissed.

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket