AskDefine | Define chance

Dictionary Definition

chance adj : occurring or appearing or singled out by chance; "their accidental meeting led to a renewal of their friendship"; "seek help from casual passers-by"; "a casual meeting"; "a chance occurrence" [syn: accidental, casual, chance(a)]


2 an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; "bad luck caused his downfall"; "we ran into each other by pure chance" [syn: luck, fortune, hazard]
3 a risk involving danger; "you take a chance when you let her drive"
4 a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; "what is the probability of rain?"; "we have a good chance of winning" [syn: probability]


2 take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome; "When you buy these stocks you are gambling" [syn: gamble, risk, hazard, take chances, adventure, run a risk, take a chance]

User Contributed Dictionary

see Chance



  • RP: /tʃɑːns/
  • US: /tʃæns/
  • Rhymes with: -ɑːns


From cheance < cadentia < cadentem.


  1. An opportunity or possibility.
    We have the chance
  2. Random occurrence; luck.
    Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
  3. The probability of something happening.
    There is a 30% chance of rain tomorrow.''


an opportunity or possibility
random occurrence
probability of sthg happening


  1. To try or risk.
    Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance it?
  2. To discover something by chance.
    He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.


to try or risk
to discover by chance
Translations to be checked


  • Webster 1913}}



Extensive Definition

Chance may also refer to:
In people:
In places:
  • Chancé, commune in Brittany, France
In fiction:
chance in German: Chance (Begriffsklärung)
chance in Korean: 찬스 (동음이의)
chance in Ido: Chanco
chance in Dutch: Kans
chance in Japanese: チャンス
chance in Russian: Случай

Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words

a leg up, accidental, accidentally, advantage, adventitious, adventure, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphous, appear, approach, aptitude, aptness, arise, assay, attempt, bare possibility, bechance, befall, bet, betide, blind bargain, blobby, blurred, blurry, borderline case, bout, brave, break, broad, bump, by chance, calculated risk, capriciousness, careless, casual, causeless, certainty, chance it, chances, chanciness, chancy, changeableness, chaotic, clear stage, come, come about, come along, come forth, come into being, come into existence, come on, come to pass, conceivability, conceivableness, conceivably, confused, contingency, contingent, court destruction, crop up, dare, defy danger, destinal, dicey, disordered, double contingency, draw on, endanger, engage, erraticism, erraticness, essay, even chance, eventuality, expectation, face up to, fair expectation, fair field, fair game, fall out, fatal, fate, fatidic, favorable prospect, fickleness, flier, fluke, fluky, foggy, forget the odds, fortuitous, fortuity, fortune, fuzzy, gamble, gamble on, general, go, good chance, good possibility, guess, hap, happen, happen along, happen by chance, hazard, hazy, heedless, hesitancy, hesitation, hit, hit-or-miss, hope, iffy, ill-defined, imperil, imprecise, inaccurate, inadvertent, inadvertently, incalculability, incertitude, inchoate, incidental, incoherent, indecision, indecisive, indecisiveness, indefinable, indefinite, indemonstrability, indeterminable, indeterminacy, indeterminate, indetermination, indeterminism, indistinct, inexact, inning, innings, irresolution, jeopardize, lax, liability, liableness, liberty, lift a finger, light, likelihood, likeliness, look-in, loose, lot, luck, make an attempt, make an effort, materialize, maybe, meet, nonspecific, obligation, obscure, occasion, occur, odd, odds, off chance, offer, open question, opening, opportunism, opportunity, orderless, outlook, outside chance, outside hope, perhaps, piece of guesswork, place, play, play with fire, plunge, pop up, possibility, possibleness, possibly, potential, potentiality, predictability, present itself, presumption, presumptive evidence, probabilism, probability, proneness, prospect, question, random, randomness, reasonable ground, reasonable hope, relief, rely on fortune, remote possibility, risk, risky, room, round, run a chance, run the chance, run the risk, say, scope, set at hazard, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, shot, show, show up, sight-unseen transaction, small hope, speculation, spell, spring up, squeak, stake, stepping-stone, stochastic, stumble, suspense, suspensefulness, sweeping, take a chance, take a flier, take chances, take place, tempt Providence, tempt fortune, tendency, the attainable, the feasible, the possible, thinkability, thinkableness, time, time at bat, toss-up, touch and go, transpire, trust to chance, try, try the chance, tumble, turn, turn up, unaccountability, uncaused, uncertainness, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, unclear, undecided issue, undecidedness, undefined, undertake, undestined, undetermined, undeterminedness, unexpected, unforeseeable, unforeseeableness, unforeseen, unintentional, unintentionally, unlooked-for, unplain, unplanned, unpredictability, unpredictable, unpremeditated, unprovability, unspecified, unsureness, unverifiability, vacillation, vague, veiled, venture, venture on, venture upon, verisimilitude, virtuality, wager, weakness, well-grounded hope, whack, what is possible, what may be, what might be, whimsicality
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