Chance definition | Dictionary.com

Synonyms of Chance

fortuitousness, fortuity, fortune, hap, hazard, luck, likelihood, odds, possibility, probability, prospect, accident

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chance

12 dictionary results for: Chance

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

chance

[chans, chahns] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, chanced, chanc·ing, adjective

–noun

1.	the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled: often personified or treated as a positive agency: Chance governs all.

2.	luck or fortune: a game of chance.

3.	a possibility or probability of anything happening: a fifty-percent chance of success.

4.	an opportune or favorable time; opportunity: Now is your chance.

5.	Baseball. an opportunity to field the ball and make a put-out or assist.

6.	a risk or hazard: Take a chance.

7.	a share or ticket in a lottery or prize drawing: The charity is selling chances for a dollar each.

8.	chances, probability: The chances are that the train hasn't left yet.

9.	Midland and Southern U.S. a quantity or number (usually fol. by of).

10.	Archaic. an unfortunate event; mishap.

–verb (used without object)

11.	to happen or occur by chance: It chanced that our arrivals coincided.

–verb (used with object)

12.	to take the chances or risks of; risk (often fol. by impersonal it): I'll have to chance it, whatever the outcome.

–adjective

13.	not planned or expected; accidental: a chance occurrence.

—Verb phrase

14.	chance on or upon, to come upon by chance; meet unexpectedly: She chanced on a rare kind of mushroom during her walk through the woods.

—Idioms

15.	by chance, without plan or intent; accidentally: I met her again by chance in a department store in Paris.

16.	on the chance, in the mild hope or against the possibility: I'll wait on the chance that she'll come.

17.	on the off chance, in the very slight hope or against the very slight possibility.

[Origin: 1250–1300; ME < OF chance, cheance < VL *cadentia a befalling, happening; see cadenza

]

—Related forms

chanceless, adjective

—Synonyms 2. accident, fortuity. 3. contingency. 4. opening. 11. befall. See happen. 13. casual, fortuitous.

—Antonyms 1. necessity.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

chance (chāns) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. The unknown and unpredictable element in happenings that seems to have no assignable cause.
2. A force assumed to cause events that cannot be foreseen or controlled; luck: Chance will determine the outcome.
The likelihood of something happening; possibility or probability. Often used in the plural: Chances are good that you will win. Is there any chance of rain?
An accidental or unpredictable event.
A favorable set of circumstances; an opportunity: a chance to escape.
A risk or hazard; a gamble: took a chance that the ice would hold me.
Games A raffle or lottery ticket.
Baseball An opportunity to make a putout or an assist that counts as an error if unsuccessful.

adj.   Caused by or ascribable to chance; unexpected, random, or casual: a chance encounter; a chance result.

v.   chanced, chanc·ing, chanc·es

v.   intr.
To come about by chance; occur: It chanced that the train was late that day.

v.   tr.
To take the risk or hazard of: not willing to chance it.

Phrasal Verb(s):
chance on/upon
To find or meet accidentally; happen upon: While in Paris we chanced on two old friends.

Idiom(s):
by chance

Without plan; accidentally: They met by chance on a plane.
Possibly; perchance: Is he, by chance, her brother?

Idiom(s):
on the off chance
In the slight hope or possibility.

[Middle English, unexpected event, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia, from Latin cadēns, cadent-, present participle of cadere, to fall, befall; see kad- in Indo-European roots.]

Synonyms: These adjectives apply to what is determined not by deliberation but by accident. Chance stresses lack of premeditation: a chance meeting with a friend.
Random implies the absence of a specific pattern or objective: took a random guess.
Casual often suggests an absence of due concern: a casual observation.
Haphazard implies a carelessness or a willful leaving to chance: a haphazard plan of action.
Desultory suggests a shifting about from one thing to another that reflects a lack of method: a desultory conversation. See Also Synonyms at happen, opportunity.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
chance

1297, from O.Fr. cheance "accident, the falling of dice," from V.L. cadentia "that which falls out," from L. cadentem (nom. cadens), prp. of cadere "to fall" (see case (1)). Notions of "opportunity" and "randomness" are equally old in Eng. The verb meaning "to risk" is from 1859. Chancy was originally (1513) "lucky;" sense of "risky, untrustworthy" is first recorded 1860.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

chance
adjective
1.	occurring or appearing or singled out by chance; "seek help from casual passers-by"; "a casual meeting"; "a chance occurrence" [syn: casual]
noun
1.	a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances; "the holiday gave us the opportunity to visit Washington"; "now is your chance" [syn: opportunity]
2.	an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; "bad luck caused his downfall"; "we ran into each other by pure chance" [syn: luck]
3.	a risk involving danger; "you take a chance when you let her drive"
4.	a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an unbiased coin will fall with the head up is 0.5" [syn: probability]
5.	the possibility of future success; "his prospects as a writer are excellent" [syn: prospect]
verb
1.	be the case by chance; "I chanced to meet my old friend in the street"
2.	take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome; "When you buy these stocks you are gambling" [syn: gamble]
3.	come upon, as if by accident; meet with; "We find this idea in Plato"; "I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here"; "She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day" [syn: find]

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American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

chance

In addition to the idioms beginning with chance, also see by chance; Chinaman's chance; eye to the main chance; fat chance; fighting chance; jump at (the chance); not have an earthly chance; on the (off) chance; snowball's chance in hell; sporting chance; stand a chance; take a chance; take one's chances.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

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U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance, MD Zip code(s): 21816

Chance, VA Zip code(s): 22439

Last Chance, CO Zip code(s): 80757

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

Chance\ (ch[.a]ns), n. [F. chance, OF. cheance, fr. LL. cadentia a allusion to the falling of the dice), fr. L. cadere to fall; akin to Skr. [,c]ad to fall, L. cedere to yield, E. cede. Cf. Cadence.]

1. A supposed material or psychical agent or mode of activity other than a force, law, or purpose; fortune; fate; -- in this sense often personified.

It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, anything that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they signify merely men's ignorance of the real and immediate cause. --Samuel Clark.

Any society into which chance might throw him. --Macaulay.

That power Which erring men call Chance. --Milton.

2. The operation or activity of such agent.

By chance a priest came down that way. --Luke x. 31.

3. The supposed effect of such an agent; something that befalls, as the result of unknown or unconsidered forces; the issue of uncertain conditions; an event not calculated upon; an unexpected occurrence; a happening; accident; fortuity; casualty.

It was a chance that happened to us. --1 Sam. vi. 9.

The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins (O shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. --Pope.

I spake of most disastrous chance. --Shak.

4. A possibility; a likelihood; an opportunity; -- with reference to a doubtful result; as, a chance to escape; a chance for life; the chances are all against him.

So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune. That I would get my life on any chance, To mend it, or be rid on 't --Shak.

5. (Math.) Probability.

Note: The mathematical expression, of a chance is the ratio of frequency with which an event happens in the long run. If an event may happen in a ways and may fail in b ways, and each of these a + b ways is equally likely, the chance, or probability, that the event will happen is measured by the fraction a/a + b, and the chance, or probability, that it will fail is measured by b/a + b.

Chance comer, one who comes unexpectedly.

The last chance, the sole remaining ground of hope.

The main chance, the chief opportunity; that upon which reliance is had, esp. self-interest.

Theory of chances, Doctrine of chances (Math.), that branch of mathematics which treats of the probability of the occurrence of particular events, as the fall of dice in given positions.

To mind one's chances, to take advantage of every circumstance; to seize every opportunity.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

Chance\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chanced; p. pr. & vb. n. Chancing.] To happen, come, or arrive, without design or expectation. "Things that chance daily." --Robynson (More's Utopia).

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee. --Deut. xxii. 6.

I chanced on this letter. --Shak.

Note: Often used impersonally; as, how chances it?

How chance, thou art returned so soon? --Shak.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

Chance\, v. t. 1. To take the chances of; to venture upon; -- usually with it as object.

Come what will, I will chance it. --W. D. Howells.

2. To befall; to happen to. [Obs.] --W. Lambarde.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

Chance\, a. Happening by chance; casual.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

Chance\, adv. By chance; perchance. --Gray.

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Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Chance

(Luke 10:31). "It was not by chance that the priest came down by that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in exact fulfilment of a plan; not the plan of the priest, nor the plan of the wounded traveller, but the plan of God. By coincidence (Gr. sungkuria) the priest came down, that is, by the conjunction of two things, in fact, which were previously constituted a pair in the providence of God. In the result they fell together according to the omniscient Designer's plan. This is the true theory of the divine government." Compare the meeting of Philip with the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26, 27). There is no "chance" in God's empire. "Chance" is only another word for our want of knowledge as to the way in which one event falls in with another (1 Sam. 6:9; Eccl. 9:11).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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