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”

Example Sentences

Its continuing good fortune is contingent on big tech firms continuing to build at the rates they have indicated, say analysts.

From The Wall Street Journal

That result left them sitting inside the bottom three on goal difference, but their fortunes have markedly changed in the matches that have followed.

From BBC

As a result, more companies are changing their business models, raising gobs of cash and tethering their fortunes to the fate of AI behemoths.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the end he opted for the challenge of reviving City's fortunes.

From BBC

The split was a fresh indication of a “K-shaped economy,” with fortunes for professional workers getting boosted as lower-paid workers struggle, according to Simon.

From The Wall Street Journal