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)]
(noun)
1: a possibility due to a favorable combination of
circumstances; "the holiday gave us the opportunity to
visit Washington"; "now is your chance" [syn: opportunity]
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]
(verb)
1: be the case by chance; "I chanced to meet my old friend in
the street"
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]
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]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Chance : \Chance\, v. t.
1. To take the chances of; to venture upon; -- usually with
it as object.
Come what will, I will chance it. --W. D.
Howells.
2. To befall; to happen to. [Obs.] --W. Lambarde.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chance : \Chance\, adv.
By chance; perchance. --Gray.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chance : \Chance\, a.
Happening by chance; casual.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chance : \Chance\ (ch[.a]ns), n. [F. chance, OF. cheance, fr. LL.
cadentia a allusion to the falling of the dice), fr. L.
cadere to fall; akin to Skr. [,c]ad to fall, L. cedere to
yield, E. cede. Cf. Cadence.]
1. A supposed material or psychical agent or mode of activity
other than a force, law, or purpose; fortune; fate; -- in
this sense often personified.
It is strictly and philosophically true in nature
and reason that there is no such thing as chance or
accident; it being evident that these words do not
signify anything really existing, anything that is
truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they
signify merely men's ignorance of the real and
immediate cause. --Samuel
Clark.
Any society into which chance might throw him.
--Macaulay.
That power Which erring men call Chance. --Milton.
2. The operation or activity of such agent.
By chance a priest came down that way. --Luke x. 31.
3. The supposed effect of such an agent; something that
befalls, as the result of unknown or unconsidered forces;
the issue of uncertain conditions; an event not calculated
upon; an unexpected occurrence; a happening; accident;
fortuity; casualty.
It was a chance that happened to us. --1 Sam. vi.
9.
The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins
(O shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. --Pope.
I spake of most disastrous chance. --Shak.
4. A possibility; a likelihood; an opportunity; -- with
reference to a doubtful result; as, a chance to escape; a
chance for life; the chances are all against him.
So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune. That I
would get my life on any chance, To mend it, or be
rid on 't --Shak.
5. (Math.) Probability.
Note: The mathematical expression, of a chance is the ratio
of frequency with which an event happens in the long
run. If an event may happen in a ways and may fail in b
ways, and each of these a _ b ways is equally likely,
the chance, or probability, that the event will happen
is measured by the fraction a/a _ b, and the chance, or
probability, that it will fail is measured by b/a _ b.
Chance comer, one who comes unexpectedly.
The last chance, the sole remaining ground of hope.
The main chance, the chief opportunity; that upon which
reliance is had, esp. self-interest.
Theory of chances, Doctrine of chances (Math.), that
branch of mathematics which treats of the probability of
the occurrence of particular events, as the fall of dice
in given positions.
To mind one's chances, to take advantage of every
circumstance; to seize every opportunity.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Chance : \Chance\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Chanced; p. pr. & vb. n.
Chancing.]
To happen, come, or arrive, without design or expectation.
``Things that chance daily.'' --Robynson (More's Utopia).
If a bird's nest chance to be before thee. --Deut.
xxii. 6.
I chanced on this letter. --Shak.
Note: Often used impersonally; as, how chances it?
How chance, thou art returned so soon? --Shak.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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CHANCE, accident. As the law punishes a crime only when there is an
intention to commit it, it follows that when those acts are done in a lawful
business or pursuit by mereChance : or accident, which would have been
criminal if there had been an intention, express or implied, to commit them,
there is no crime. For example, if workmen were employed in blasting rocks
in a retired field, and a person not knowing of the circumstance should
enter the field, and be killed by a piece of the rock, there would be no
guilt in the workmen. 1 East, P. C. 262 Poster, 262; 1 Hale's P. C. 472; 4
Bl. Com. 192. Vide Accident.
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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Chance, MD
Zip code(s): 21816
Chance, VA
Zip code(s): 22439
Based on U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [Census_Database]:
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Chance : (Luke 10:31). "It was not by chance that the priest came down by
that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in
exact fulfilment of a plan; not the plan of the priest, nor the
plan of the wounded traveller, but the plan of God. By
coincidence (Gr. sungkuria) the priest came down, that is, by
the conjunction of two things, in fact, which were previously
constituted a pair in the providence of God. In the result they
fell together according to the omniscient Designer's plan. This
is the true theory of the divine government." Compare the
meeting of Philip with the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26, 27). There is
no "chance" in God's empire. "Chance" is only another word for
our want of knowledge as to the way in which one event falls in
with another (1 Sam. 6:9; Eccl. 9:11).
Based on U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [Census_Database]:
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