chancy
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See also: Chancy
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]chancy (comparative chancier, superlative chanciest)
- Uncertain; risky; hazardous.
- 1960 April, G. F. Fiennes, “Unpunctuality - the cause and the cure”, in Trains Illustrated, page 244:
- In winter steam contributes a fairly high proportion of its tractive effort, say 15 per cent, to heating the train. Diesels have at the moment separate oil-fired boilers which are somewhat chancy affairs, and only electric locomotives grab unlimited power for heating which does not affect their punctuality.
- 1984, Ric Ocasek, “You Might Think”, in Heartbeat City[1], performed by The Cars:
- You might think it's foolish
This chancy rendezvous
(You might think) You might think I'm crazy
(All I want) All I want is you
- Subject to chance; random.
- (dated, colloquial) Lucky; bringing good luck.
- 1919, Irvin S. Cobb, The Life of the Party, page 49:
- His haggard gaze swept this way and that, seeking possible succour where reason told him there could be no succour; and then as his vision pieced together this outjutting architectural feature and that into a coherent picture of his immediate surroundings he knew where he was. The one bit of chancy luck in a sequence of direful catastrophes had brought him here[Pg 49] to this very spot. Why, this must be West Ninth Street; it had to be, it was—oh joy, it was!.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]uncertain
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- Rhymes:English/ænsi
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- Rhymes:English/ɑːnsi
- Rhymes:English/ɑːnsi/2 syllables
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