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chance
[chans, chahns]
noun
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.
Antonyms:luck or fortune.
a game of chance.
Synonyms: ,a possibility or probability of anything happening.
a fifty-percent chance of success.
Synonyms:an opportune or favorable time; opportunity.
Now is your chance.
Synonyms:Baseball.an opportunity to field the ball and make a putout or an assist.
a risk or hazard.
Take a chance.
a share or ticket in a lottery or prize drawing.
The charity is selling chances for a dollar each.
chances, probability.
The chances are that the train hasn't left yet.
Midland and Southern U.S.a quantity or number (usually followed byof ).
a fine chance of tomatoes, harvested fresh from the garden today.
Archaic.an unfortunate event; mishap.
verb (used without object)
to happen or occur by chance.
It chanced that our arrivals coincided.
Synonyms:
verb (used with object)
to take the chances or risks of; risk (often followed by impersonalit ).
I'll have to chance it, whatever the outcome.
adjective
not planned or expected; accidental.
a chance occurrence.
Synonyms: ,
verb phrase
to come upon by chance; meet unexpectedly.
She chanced on a rare kind of mushroom during her walk through the woods.
chance
/ ʃɑːԲ /
noun
the unknown and unpredictable element that causes an event to result in a certain way rather than another, spoken of as a real force
( as modifier )
a chance meeting
fortune; luck; fate
an opportunity or occasion
a risk; gamble
you take a chance with his driving
the extent to which an event is likely to occur; probability
an unpredicted event, esp a fortunate one
that was quite a chance, finding him here
archaican unlucky event; mishap
accidentally
he slipped by chance
perhaps
do you by chance have a room?
it is likely (that) …
acting on the possibility; in case
the opportunity for personal gain (esp in the phrase an eye to the main chance )
verb
(tr) to risk; hazard
I'll chance the worst happening
to happen by chance; be the case by chance
I chanced to catch sight of her as she passed
to come upon by accident
he chanced on the solution to his problem
to attempt to do something although the chance of success may be slight
Other 51Թ Forms
- chanceless adjective
- unchanced adjective
- ˈԳ adjective
- ˈԳڳܱ adjective
51Թ History and Origins
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of chance1
Idioms and Phrases
on the off chance, in the very slight hope or against the very slight possibility.
I’m free Friday, on the off chance that you end up with a spare ticket to the concert.
on the chance, in the mild hope or against the possibility.
I'll wait on the chance that she'll come.
by chance, without plan or intent; accidentally.
I met her again by chance in a department store in Paris.
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Naturally, he is keen to achieve further success, but knew from his slow start to Friday's second round that any chance of collecting a second major of the year this week was gone.
Russell had felt on arriving at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday morning that he had a good chance of setting pole, and his confidence was well placed.
"It's a chance for South Africa to be united. We've got a cause where we can put aside our differences and enjoy it," Bavuma added.
In typically clinical fashion, they took this early chance as captain Conan peeled off the back of the maul and powered over.
There is also a chance it will rain on the president’s parade, with thunderstorms, lightning and flash flooding forecast for the district.
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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.
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