noun / adjective / verb
chance
CHANS/tʃæns/
The possibility of an outcome that is not certain.
The spinning pointer has a small chance of landing on the gold star.
Etymology
Cheance included the falling of dice: an outcome beyond one's control. The meaning developed from what happens to what may happen, giving the modern sense of possibility or likelihood.
In context
using its ovipositor it places small packages of eggs in a number of places this reduces the chance that a single predator will find all the eggs
More examples
- The workshop gives children a chance to build simple machines.
- A chance meeting leads them to start a business together.
- We decide to chance the weather and walk home.
Forms
chance · chances · chanced · chancing
Similar words
- possibility
- Does not necessarily suggest a measurable likelihood.