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fortune - 7 dictionary results
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for⋅tune
[fawr-chuh
n] 
noun, verb, -tuned, -tun⋅ing.–noun
| 1. | position in life as determined by wealth: to make one's fortune. |
| 2. | wealth or riches: to lose a small fortune in bad investments. |
| 3. | great wealth; ample stock of money, property, and the like: to be worth a fortune. |
| 4. | chance; luck: They each had the bad fortune to marry the wrong person. |
| 5. | fortunes. things that happen or are to happen to a person in his or her life. |
| 6. | fate; lot; destiny: whatever my fortune may be. |
| 7. | (initial capital letter) chance personified, commonly regarded as a mythical being distributing arbitrarily or capriciously the lots of life: Perhaps Fortune will smile on our venture. |
| 8. | good luck; success; prosperity: a family blessed by fortune. |
| 9. | Archaic. a wealthy woman; an heiress. |
–verb (used with object)
| 10. | Archaic. to endow (someone or something) with a fortune. |
–verb (used without object)
—Idiom| 11. | Archaic. to chance or happen; come by chance. |
| 12. | tell someone's fortune, to profess to inform someone of future events in his or her own life; foretell. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < OF < L fortūna chance, luck, fortune, deriv. of fort- (s. of fors) chance
1250–1300; ME < OF < L fortūna chance, luck, fortune, deriv. of fort- (s. of fors) chance
Related forms:
for⋅tune⋅less, adjective
Synonyms:
4. fate, destiny, providence; kismet, karma. 7. Moira; Lady Luck.
4. fate, destiny, providence; kismet, karma. 7. Moira; Lady Luck.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To fortune
| for·tune (fôr'chən) n.
v. tr.
To occur by chance; happen. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fortūna; see bher-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Fortune
For"tune\ (f[^o]r"t[-u]n; 135), n. [F. fortune, L. fortuna; akin to fors, fortis, chance, prob. fr. ferre to bear, bring. See Bear to support, and cf. Fortuitous.]1. The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident; luck; hap; also, the personified or deified power regarded as determining human success, apportioning happiness and unhappiness, and distributing arbitrarily or fortuitously the lots of life. 'T is more by fortune, lady, than by merit. --Shak. O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. --Shak. 2. That which befalls or is to befall one; lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny; as, to tell one's fortune. You, who men's fortunes in their faces read. --Cowley. 3. That which comes as the result of an undertaking or of a course of action; good or ill success; especially, favorable issue; happy event; success; prosperity as reached partly by chance and partly by effort. Our equal crimes shall equal fortune give. --Dryden. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. --Shak. His father dying, he was driven to seek his fortune. --Swift. 4. Wealth; large possessions; large estate; riches; as, a gentleman of fortune. Syn: Chance; accident; luck; fate. Fortune book, a book supposed to reveal future events to those who consult it. --Crashaw. Fortune hunter, one who seeks to acquire wealth by marriage. Fortune teller, one who professes to tell future events in the life of another. Fortune telling, the practice or art of professing to reveal future events in the life of another.Fortune
For"tune\, v. t. [OF. fortuner, L. fortunare. See Fortune, n.]1. To make fortunate; to give either good or bad fortune to. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. To provide with a fortune. --Richardson. 3. To presage; to tell the fortune of. [Obs.] --Dryden.Fortune
For"tune\, v. i. To fall out; to happen. It fortuned the same night that a Christian, serving a Turk in the camp, secretely gave the watchmen warning. --Knolles.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : fortune
Spanish:
fortuna, suerte,
German:
das Glück, das Schicksal,
Japanese:
運
fortune
c.1300, "chance, luck as a force in human affairs," from O.Fr. fortune (12c.), from L. fortuna, from fors (gen. fortis) "chance, luck," from PIE base *bhrtis-. Often personified as a goddess; her wheel betokens vicissitude. Sense of "owned wealth" first found in Spenser; probably it evolved from senses of "one's condition or standing in life," hence "position as determined by wealth," then "wealth itself." Soldier of fortune first attested 1661. The fortune cookie (1962) is said to have been invented in 1918 by David Jung, Chinese immigrant to America who established Hong Kong Noodle Co., who handed out cookies that contained uplifting messages as a promotional gimmick. Fortune 500 "most profitable American companies" is 1955, from the list published annually in "Fortune" magazine. Fortunate Islands "mythical abode of the blessed dead, in the Western Ocean," 1432, translates L. Fortunatæ Insulæ.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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fortune
see make a fortune.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
