chance

Noun

chance (countable and uncountable, plural chances)

1. (countable) An opportunity or possibility.
   • We had the chance to meet the president last week: we have a good/strong chance of making / to make a profit.
   • There was a fat/slim chance that my letter would arrive in time.
2. (uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
   • Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
   • My whole life seems to be ruled by blind chance.

   Synonyms:

   fortune, hap, adventure, accident, casualty, chance-medley, hazard, joss, luck, serendipity

3. (countable) The probability of something happening.
   • There is a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow.
   • There is little chance of having the chance to approach such a big celeb.
4. (plural) probability; possibility.
   • Sometimes the name is changed because it is thought to be unlucky. If "Chua" is ill, the chances are that there are certain spirits who do not like his name, so the parents alter his name to "Mee," or something else, and then he gets well again.1908, Ernest Young, “Chapter 4 The children”, in Peeps at Many Lands: Siam, London: Adam and Charles Black, page 16

   Synonyms:

   eventuality, contingency, contingent, possibility, potentiality

5. (archaic, countable) What befalls or happens to a person; their lot or fate.
   • But at the moment when everything was going so well, there came one of those unforeseeable chances that reduce even the most circumspectly arranged plots to the significance of a mere toss-up.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
   • Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!1795, Robert Southey, The Soldier's Wife

   Synonyms:

   destiny, doom, destin, fatality, fate, foredoom, foreordination, fortune, kismet, lot

Adjective

chance (not comparable)

1. Happening by chance, casual.
   • No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at any of the many windows; not even a chance passer-by was in the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there.1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC
   • Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter II, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   contingent

Adverb

chance (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Perchance; perhaps.

Verb

chance (third-person singular simple present chances, present participle chancing, simple past and past participle chanced)

1. (archaic, intransitive) To happen by chance, to occur.
   • It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
   • if a bird's nest chance to be before thee1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 22:6
2. (archaic, transitive) To befall; to happen to.
   • […] while the King and Godwine sate at the table, accompanied with others of the nobilitie, it chanced the cupbearer (as he brought wine to the bourd) to slip with the one foote, and yet by good strength of his other leg, to recover himselfe without falling […]1826, William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent
3. To try or risk.
   • Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
   • He does chance it in stocks, but he's always played on the square, if you call stocks gambling.1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes

   Synonyms:

   test

4. To discover something by chance.
   • He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
   • I chanced on this letter.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...

   Synonyms:

   come across

5. (Belize) To rob, cheat or swindle someone.
   • The car broke down a week after I bought it. I was chanced by that fast-talking salesman.
   • Be prepared to engage in protests of all businesses nationwide who are violating the copyright act and chancing our members.2017 March 22, Jules Vasquez, “Shyne Urges Artists To Protest Against Businesses Countrywide”, in 7 News Belize

   Synonyms:

   deceive

6. (Nigeria) To take an opportunity from someone; to cut a queue.

Proper noun capitalized: Chance

IPA/t͡ʃæns/US[t͡ʃʰɛəns~t͡ʃʰeəns]

Chance (countable and uncountable, plural Chances)

1. An unincorporated community in Adair County, Kentucky, United States.
2. A census-designated place in Somerset County, Maryland, United States.
3. A census-designated place in Adair County, Oklahoma, United States.
4. An unincorporated community in Perkins County, South Dakota, United States.
5. An unincorporated community in Essex County, Virginia, United States.
6. A male given name from English, an American pet form of Chauncey, in modern usage also associated with the word chance.
7. A surname.