chance

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The unknown and unpredictable element in happenings that seems to have no assignable cause.
2. n. A force assumed to cause events that cannot be foreseen or controlled; luck: Chance will determine the outcome.
3. n. The likelihood of something happening; possibility or probability. Often used in the plural: Chances are good that you will win. Is there any chance of rain?
4. n. An accidental or unpredictable event.
5. n. A favorable set of circumstances; an opportunity: a chance to escape.
6. n. A risk or hazard; a gamble: took a chance that the ice would hold me.
7. n. Games A raffle or lottery ticket.
8. n. Baseball An opportunity to make a putout or an assist that counts as an error if unsuccessful.
9. adj. Caused by or ascribable to chance; unexpected, random, or casual: a chance encounter; a chance result.
10. v. To come about by chance; occur: It chanced that the train was late that day.
11. v. To take the risk or hazard of: not willing to chance it.
12. on To find or meet accidentally; happen upon: While in Paris we chanced on two old friends.
13. idiom. by chance Without plan; accidentally: They met by chance on a plane.
14. idiom. by chance Possibly; perchance: Is he, by chance, her brother?
15. idiom. on the off chance In the slight hope or possibility.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Fall; falling.
2. n. A throw of dice; the number turned up by a die.
3. n. Hence Risk; hazard; a balanced possibility of gain or loss, particularly in gaming; uncertainty.
4. n. A contingent or unexpected event; an event which might or might not befall.
5. n. Vicissitude; contingent or unexpected events in a series or collectively.
6. n. Luck; fortune; that which happens to or befalls one.
7. n. Opportunity; a favorable contingency: as, now is your chance.
8. n. Probability; the proportion of events favorable to a hypothesis out of all those which may occur: as, the chances are against your succeeding.
9. n. Fortuity; especially, the absence of a cause necessitating an event, or the absence of any known reason why an event should turn out one way rather than another, spoken of as if it were a real agency; the variability of an event under given general conditions, viewed as a real agency.
10. Resulting from or due to chance; casual; unexpected: as, a chance remark; a chance customer.
11. Synonyms Casual, Fortuitous, etc. See accidental.
12. To happen; fall out; come or arrive without design or expectation.
13. To befall or happen to.
14. To risk; hazard; take the chances of: as, the thing may be dangerous, but I will chance it.
15. By chance; perchance.

Wiktionary

1. n. An opportunity or possibility.
2. n. Random occurrence; luck.
3. n. The probability of something happening.
4. v. To happen by chance, to occur.
5. v. To try or risk.
6. v. To discover something by chance.
7. adj. happening by chance, casual

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A supposed material or psychical agent or mode of activity other than a force, law, or purpose; fortune; fate; -- in this sense often personified.
2. n. The operation or activity of such agent.
3. n. 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.
4. n. A possibility; a likelihood; an opportunity; -- with reference to a doubtful result.
5. n. Probability.
6. v. To happen, come, or arrive, without design or expectation.
7. v. To take the chances of; to venture upon; -- usually with it as object.
8. v. To befall; to happen to.
9. adj. Happening by chance; casual.
10. adv. By chance; perchance.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a risk involving danger
2. adj. occurring or appearing or singled out by chance
3. n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
4. n. 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
5. n. a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances
6. n. the possibility of future success
7. v. come upon, as if by accident; meet with
8. v. be the case by chance
9. v. take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome