perchance
Americanadverb
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Literary. perhaps; maybe; possibly.
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Archaic. by chance.
adverb
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perhaps; possibly
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by chance; accidentally
Etymology
Origin of perchance
1300–50; Middle English, variant of par chance by chance < Anglo-French. See per, chance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And later, instead of “To die; to sleep .. perchance to dream! Ay there’s the rub,” we hear “To die, to sleep – is that all? Ay, all. No! To dream – ay, there it goes.”
From Seattle Times
More than a few times, Davis said, the author was stopped by readers who asked whether, perchance, he knew their grandfather or uncle.
From Washington Post
No one has wanted to be the guy who hands the keys back to the ousted enemy — perchance to resume its soccer stadium mass executions and brutal repression of women.
From Washington Post
Coronavirus: I hail from pangolin, perchance from bat.
From Washington Post
“Oh happy people of the future, who have not known these miseries and perchance will class our testimony with the fables.”
From New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
