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Added 9 October 2026

chance

noun

In Latin: opportunitas, possibilitas, potestas Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). More about chance at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

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.
Random occurrence; luck.
Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
The probability of something happening.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow.

adjective

Happening by chance, casual.

adverb

Perchance; perhaps.

verb

To happen by chance, to occur.
It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
To befall; to happen to.
To try or risk.
Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?

Origin

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

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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