chance
1. a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances (Freq. 40)
- the holiday gave us the opportunity to visit Washington
- now is your chance
• Syn:
opportunity
• Derivationally related forms:
opportune (for: opportunity)
• Hypernyms:
possibility, possibleness
• Hyponyms:
brass ring, day, fresh start, clean slate, tabula rasa,
hearing, audience, hunting ground, occasion, opening, room,
say, shot, crack, street, throw
2. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another (Freq. 8)
- bad luck caused his downfall
- we ran into each other by pure chance
• Syn:
luck, fortune, hazard
• Derivationally related forms:
hazard (for: hazard)
• Hypernyms:
phenomenon
• Hyponyms:
bad luck, mischance, mishap, tossup, toss-up, even chance
3. a risk involving danger (Freq. 4)
- you take a chance when you let her drive
• Derivationally related forms:
chancy
• Hypernyms:
risk, peril, danger
4. a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur;
a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible (Freq. 2)
- the probability that an unbiased coin will fall with the head up is 0.5
• Syn:
probability
• Derivationally related forms:
probabilistic (for: probability), probable (for: probability)
• Hypernyms:
measure, quantity, amount
• Hyponyms:
conditional probability, contingent probability, cross section, exceedance, fair chance,
fair chance, fat chance, slim chance, joint probability, risk,
risk of exposure, risk of infection
5. the possibility of future success
- his prospects as a writer are excellent
• Syn:
prospect
• Derivationally related forms:
prospect (for: prospect)
• Hypernyms:
potential, potentiality, potency
1. be the case by chance (Freq. 2)
- I chanced to meet my old friend in the street
• Hypernyms:
happen, hap, go on, pass off, occur,
pass, fall out, come about, take place
• Hyponyms:
happen
• Verb Frames:
- Something ----s
2. take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome (Freq. 1)
- When you buy these stocks you are gambling
• Syn:
gamble, risk, hazard, take chances, adventure,
run a risk, take a chance
• Derivationally related forms:
adventure (for: adventure), adventurer (for: adventure), hazard (for: hazard), risk (for: risk), gamble (for: gamble), gambler (for: gamble)
• Hypernyms:
try, seek, attempt, essay, assay
• Hyponyms:
go for broke, luck it, luck through
• Verb Frames:
- Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
- Somebody ----s (for: run a risk)
- Somebody ----s PP (for: run a risk)
3. come upon, as if by accident;
meet with
- We find this idea in Plato
- I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here
- She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day
• Syn:
find, happen, bump, encounter
• Derivationally related forms:
encounter (for: encounter), find (for: find), finder (for: find)
• Verb Frames:
- Somebody ----s something
occurring or appearing or singled out by chance (Freq. 5)
- seek help from casual passers-by
- a casual meeting
- a chance occurrence
• Syn:
casual
• Similar to:
unplanned
• Derivationally related forms:
casualness (for: casual)
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