chances

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.
2. (uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
   • Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?

   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.
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

   Synonyms:

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

See all 20 meanings of chance