chance (chances plural & 3rd person present) (chancing present participle) (chanced past tense & past participle )
1 n-var If there is a chanceof something happening, it is possible that it will happen.
oft N of -ing/n, N that
Do you think they have a chance of beating Australia?..., This partnership has a good chance of success..., The specialist who carried out the brain scan thought Tim's chances of survival were still slim..., There was really very little chance that Ben would ever have led a normal life.
2 n-count If you have a chanceto do something, you have the opportunity to do it.
usu N to-inf, N for n to-inf
The electoral council announced that all eligible people would get a chance to vote..., I felt I had to give him a chance.
3 adj A chance meeting or event is one that is not planned or expected.
ADJ n
...a chance meeting.
Chance is also a noun., n-uncount
...a victim of chance and circumstance.
4 verb If you chanceto do something or chanceon something, you do it or find it although you had not planned or tried to.
FORMAL It was just then that I chanced to look round. V to-inf
...Christopher Columbus, who chanced upon the Dominican Republic nearly 500 years ago. V upon/on/across n
5 verb If you chance something, you do it even though there is a risk that you may not succeed or that something bad may happen.
(=risk)
Andy knew the risks. I cannot believe he would have chanced it... V it
He decided no assassin would chance a shot from amongst that crowd. V n
7 Something that happens by chance was not planned by anyone.
by chance phrase PHR after v, PHR with cl
He had met Mr Maude by chance.
8 You can use by any chance when you are asking questions in order to find out whether something that you think might be true is actually true.
by any chance phrase PHR with cl (not first in cl)
(=perhaps)
Are they by any chance related?
9 If you say that someone stands a chanceof achieving something, you mean that they are likely to achieve it. If you say that someone doesn't stand a chanceof achieving something, you mean that they cannot possibly achieve it.
stand a chance phrase V inflects, usu PHR of -ing
Being very good at science subjects, I stood a good chance of gaining high grades..., Neither is seen as standing any chance of snatching the leadership from him.
10 When you take a chance, you try to do something although there is a large risk of danger or failure.
take a chance phrase V and N inflect You take a chance on the weather if you holiday in the UK..., From then on, they were taking no chances...
off-chance , off chance
If you do something on the off-chance, you do it because you hope that it will succeed, although you think that this is unlikely.
on the off-chance phrase PHR after v, oft PHR that, PHR of n/-ing
He had taken a flight to Paris on the off-chance that he might be able to meet Francesca.
