chance

happening by chance a chance advantage that I immediately recognized and made full use of Synonyms casual, accidental, fluky (also flukey), fortuitous, inadvertent, incidental, unintended, unintentional, unplanned, unpremeditated, unwittingRelated Words coincidental; freak, odd; aimless, arbitrary, desultory, haphazard, random; uncertain, unexpected, unforeseeable, unforeseen; coerced, forced, involuntary; unconscious, unpromptedNear Antonyms certain, destined, expected, fixed, foreordained, foreseeable, foreseen, inevitable, predestined, predetermined, predictable, preordained, prescribed, sure; conscious, freewill, knowing, unforced, voluntary, volunteer, willful (or wilful)Antonyms calculated, deliberate, intended, intentional, planned, premeditated, premeditative, prepense, set

1 the uncertain course of events rather than leave everything to chance, let's plan how we're going to spend our time in New York City Synonyms accident, casualty [archaic], circumstance, hap, hazard, luck Related Words fortuitousness, fortuity, haphazardry, randomness, uncertainty; fluke, happenchance, happenstance; destiny, doom, fate, fortune, lot; danger, peril, risk Near Antonyms intent, intention, purpose; design, outline, plan, scheme

2 a favorable combination of circumstances, time, and place this is my one chance to succeed Synonyms break, opportunity, occasion, opening, room, shotRelated Words play, way; juncture, pass

3 a measure of how often an event will occur instead of another the chance of being struck by lightning is very low Synonyms probability, odds, percentageRelated Words outlook, prospect; contingency, possibility, potential, potentiality; conditional probability

4 a risky undertaking it's a chance, but I think the business will be profitable Synonyms adventure, gamble, crapshoot, enterprise, flier (also flyer), flutter [chiefly British], speculation, throw, ventureRelated Words bet, hazard, stake, wager; liberty; dark horse, long shot, playAntonyms sure thing

1 to take a chance on I don't think we should chance driving in this snowstorm Synonyms adventure, risk, gamble (on), hazard, tempt, ventureRelated Words beard, brave, brazen, breast, challenge, confront, dare, defy, face, outbrave; compromise, endanger, imperil, jeopardize, menace; expose, subject; bet (on), wager

2 to take place there chanced to be a beautiful day when we were touring that part of Scotland Synonyms be, befall, betide, happen, come, come about, come down, come off, cook, do, go down [slang], go on, hap, occur, pass, transpireRelated Words break, develop, rise, shape (up); arise, come up, crop (up), materialize, spring (up); intervene; fall out, follow, result, turn out; go off, proceed