fortune
position in life as determined by wealth: It's not easy to make one's fortune from humble beginnings.
wealth or riches: He lost a small fortune in bad investments.
great wealth; ample stock of money, property, and the like: Those gems are worth a fortune.
chance; luck: They each had the bad fortune to marry the wrong person.
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.
fate; lot; destiny: Whatever my fortune may be, my faith will guide me.
Fortune. chance personified, commonly regarded as a mythical being distributing arbitrarily or capriciously the lots of life: Perhaps Fortune will smile on our venture.
good luck; success; prosperity: The family was blessed by fortune.
Archaic. a wealthy woman; an heiress.
Archaic. to endow (someone or something) with a fortune.
Archaic. to chance or happen; come by chance.
Idioms about fortune
tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in their own life; foretell.
Origin of fortune
1Other words for fortune
Other words from fortune
- for·tune·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use fortune in a sentence
Perhaps in her heart of hearts she rejoiced at getting Mary engaged, even to so humble a suitor as fortuneless John Hammond.
Phantom Fortune, A Novel | M. E. BraddonWhat matter that he was fortuneless, a nobody, with but the poorest chances of success in the world?
Phantom Fortune, A Novel | M. E. BraddonBut I, for thy misfortunes, shall endure with tears a fortuneless fortune.
The Tragedies of Euripides, Volume I. | EuripidesAngry with him, they came to me and cruelly declared, that they would never allow him to wed such a fortuneless girl!
Solaris Farm | Milan C. EdsonThere was a small life-insurance settled upon Mrs. Lawrence, and the children would be fortuneless.
Hope Mills | Amanda M. Douglas
British Dictionary definitions for fortune
/ (ˈfɔːtʃən) /
an amount of wealth or material prosperity, esp, when unqualified, a great amount
small fortune a large sum of money
a power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs; chance
luck, esp when favourable
(often plural) a person's lot or destiny
archaic
(tr) to endow with great wealth
(intr) to happen by chance
Origin of fortune
1Derived forms of fortune
- fortuneless, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with fortune
see make a fortune.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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