chance

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See also: Chance

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English chance, cheance, chaunce, cheaunce, a borrowing from Old French chance (“accident, chance, luck”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadere (“to fall, to die, to happen, occur”). Doublet of cadence and cadenza.

Noun[edit]

chance (countable and uncountable, plural chances)

  1. (countable) An opportunity or possibility.
    We had the chance to meet the president last week.
    • 1965 March 15, Johnson, Lyndon B., Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506.‎[1], Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, 42:30 from the start:
      It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country. But now I do have that chance, and I'll let you in on a secret: I mean to use it.
  2. (uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
    Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
  3. (countable) The probability of something happening.
    There is a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow.
  4. (countable, archaic) What befalls or happens to a person; their lot or fate.
    • 1795, Southey, Robert, The Soldier's Wife‎[2]:
      Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from the noun chance
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective[edit]

chance (not comparable)

  1. Happening by chance, casual.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, ch. VI, The Shoe Maker (Heron Book Centennial Edition)
      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.
Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

chance (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Perchance; perhaps.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English chancen, chauncen, from the noun (see above).

Verb[edit]

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.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Deuteronomy 22:6:
      if a bird's nest chance to be before thee
    • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. XV, Practical — Devotional
      Once […] it chanced that Geoffrey Riddell Bishop of Ely, a Prelate rather troublesome to our Abbot, made a request of him for timber from his woods towards certain edifices going on at Glemsford.
    • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
      Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
  2. (archaic, transitive) To befall; to happen to.
    • 1826, William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent:
      […] 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 […]
  3. To try or risk.
    Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
    • 1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes
      He does chance it in stocks, but he's always played on the square, if you call stocks gambling.
  4. To discover something by chance.
    He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
  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.
    • 2017 March 22, Jules Vasquez, “Shyne Urges Artists To Protest Against Businesses Countrywide”, in 7 News Belize‎[3]:
      Be prepared to engage in protests of all businesses nationwide who are violating the copyright act and chancing our members.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French chance, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadō (“I fall, I die”).

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA(key): [ˈɕɑŋsə]

Noun[edit]

chance c (singular definite chancen, plural indefinite chancer)

  1. A chance

Antonyms[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French chance, cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadēns, from cadō (“I fall, I die”). Doublet of cadence, borrowed from Italian.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chance f (plural chances)

  1. chance
  2. luck

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Descendants

Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French chance. Doublet of cadenza.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chance f (invariable)

  1. chance (possibility of a certain outcome)

Old French[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadēns, from cadō (“I fall, I die”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chance f (oblique plural chances, nominative singular chance, nominative plural chances)

  1. chance; fate
  2. (rare) a throw of a die

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French chance.[1][2] Doublet of cadência.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: chan‧ce

Noun[edit]

chance f (plural chances)

  1. probability
  2. chance, opportunity
    Synonym: oportunidade

References[edit]

  1. ^ “chance” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2022.
  2. ^ “chance” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French chance or, in Mexico, from English chance. Doublet of cadencia.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /ˈt͡ʃanθe/, [ˈt͡ʃãn̟.θe]
  • IPA(key): (Latin America) /ˈt͡ʃanse/, [ˈt͡ʃãn.se]

Noun[edit]

chance m or f (plural chances)

  1. chance

Conjunction[edit]

chance

  1. (Mexico) maybe, perchance, perhaps or possibly
    Synonyms: a lo mejor, quizá, quizás, tal vez

Further reading[edit]

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