Chance - Definition

adj 1: occurring or appearing or singled out by chance; "seek
help from casual passers-by"; "a casual meeting"; "a
chance occurrence" [syn: casual, chance(a)]
n 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, chance]
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, chance, 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; a
number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole
number of cases possible; "the probability that an unbiased
coin will fall with the head up is 0.5" [syn: probability,
chance]
5: the possibility of future success; "his prospects as a writer
are excellent" [syn: prospect, chance]
v 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, chance,
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,
chance, bump, encounter]