chance
English
Alternative forms
- chaunce (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tʃæns/
- (US, Canada) IPA(key): [tʃʰɛəns~tʃʰeəns]
- (Northern England, General Australian, Ireland) IPA(key): [tʃʰæns~tʃʰans]
- IPA(key): /tʃɑːns/
- (Received Pronunciation, Cockney) IPA(key): [tʃʰɑːns]
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): [tʃʰɐːns]
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns
Etymology 1
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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
chance (countable and uncountable, plural chances)
- (countable) An opportunity or possibility.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
- Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.
- We had the chance to meet the president last week.
- (uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
- Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
- (countable) The probability of something happening.
- There is a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow.
- (countable, archaic) What befalls or happens to a person; their lot or fate.
- 1795, Robert Southey, "The Soldier's Wife" [1]:
- Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!
- 1795, Robert Southey, "The Soldier's Wife" [1]:
Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Adjective
chance (not comparable)
- 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.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, ch. VI, The Shoe Maker (Heron Book Centennial Edition)
Translations
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Adverb
chance (not comparable)
Etymology 2
From Middle English chancen, chauncen, from the noun (see above).
Verb
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- (archaic, intransitive) To happen by chance, to occur.
- It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
- Bible, Deuteronomy xxii. 6
- if a bird's nest chance to be before thee
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- I chanced on this letter.
- 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."
- (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 […]
- To try or risk.
- Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
- (Can we date this quote by W. D. Howells and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Come what will, I will chance it.
- To discover something by chance.
- He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
- (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[2]:
- Be prepared to engage in protests of all businesses nationwide who are violating the copyright act and chancing our members.
Synonyms
- (to happen) come to pass, occur, transpire; See also Thesaurus:happen
- (to happen to)
- (to try) test
- (to discover something) come across, come on, come upon, encounter, stumble upon
- (to cheat someone) deceive, fool, trick; See also Thesaurus:deceive
Derived terms
Translations
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References
- “chance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “chance”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Danish
Etymology
Borrowed from French chance, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadō (“I fall, I die”).
Noun
chance c (singular definite chancen, plural indefinite chancer)
- A chance
Antonyms
French
Etymology
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
Noun
chance f (plural chances)
Antonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Persian: شانس (šâns)
Related terms
Further reading
- “chance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from French chance. Doublet of cadenza.
Noun
chance f (uncountable)
- chance (possibility of a certain outcome)
Old French
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadēns, from cadō (“I fall, I die”).
Pronunciation
Noun
chance oblique singular, f (oblique plural chances, nominative singular chance, nominative plural chances)
Related terms
Descendants
References
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (cheance, supplement)
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (chance)
- chance on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
Portuguese
Etymology
Borrowed from French chance. Doublet of cadência.
Pronunciation
Noun
chance f (plural s)
Related terms
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from French chance or, in Mexico, from English chance. Doublet of cadencia.
Pronunciation
Noun
chance m or f (plural chances)
Conjunction
Synonyms
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɑːns
- Rhymes:English/æns
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with archaic senses
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English adverbs
- English uncomparable adverbs
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English intransitive verbs
- Requests for date/Shakespeare
- English transitive verbs
- Requests for date/W. D. Howells
- Belizean English
- English basic words
- Danish terms borrowed from French
- Danish terms derived from French
- Danish terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Danish terms derived from Latin
- Danish lemmas
- Danish nouns
- Danish terms spelled with C
- Danish common-gender nouns
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French doublets
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- Rhymes:French/ɑ̃s
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- Italian terms borrowed from French
- Italian terms derived from French
- Italian doublets
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian uncountable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Old French terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Old French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Old French terms inherited from Latin
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Portuguese terms borrowed from French
- Portuguese terms derived from French
- Portuguese doublets
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese feminine nouns
- Spanish terms borrowed from French
- Spanish terms derived from French
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish doublets
- Spanish 2-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns
- Spanish nouns with multiple genders
- Mexican Spanish