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more about chance
chance |
8 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Chance \Chance\, v. t. 1. To take the chances of to venture upon -- usually with it as object. Come what will I will chance it --W. D. Howells. 2. To befall; to happen to [Obs.] --W. Lambarde From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Chance \Chance\, adv By chance; perchance. --Gray. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Chance \Chance\, a. Happening by chance; casual. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Chance \Chance\ (ch[.a]ns), n. [F. chance, OF cheance, fr LL cadentia a allusion to the falling of the dice), fr L. cadere to fall; akin to Skr. [,c]ad to fall, L. cedere to yield, E. cede. Cf {Cadence}.] 1. A supposed material or psychical agent or mode of activity other than a force, law, or purpose; fortune; fate; -- in this sense often personified. It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, anything that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they signify merely men's ignorance of the real and immediate cause --Samuel Clark. Any society into which chance might throw him --Macaulay. That power Which erring men call Chance. --Milton. 2. The operation or activity of such agent. By chance a priest came down that way --Luke x. 31. 3. 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. It was a chance that happened to us --1 Sam. vi 9. The Knave of Diamonds tries his wily arts, And wins (O shameful chance!) the Queen of Hearts. --Pope. I spake of most disastrous chance. --Shak. 4. A possibility; a likelihood; an opportunity; -- with reference to a doubtful result; as a chance to escape; a chance for life; the chances are all against him So weary with disasters, tugged with fortune. That I would get my life on any chance, To mend it or be rid on 't --Shak. 5. (Math.) Probability. Note: The mathematical expression, of a chance is the ratio of frequency with which an event happens in the long run. If an event may happen in a ways and may fail in b ways, and each of these a + b ways is equally likely, the chance, or probability, that the event will happen is measured by the fraction a/a + b, and the chance, or probability, that it will fail is measured by b/a + b. {Chance comer}, one who comes unexpectedly. {The last chance}, the sole remaining ground of hope. {The main chance}, the chief opportunity; that upon which reliance is had esp. self-interest. {Theory of chances}, {Doctrine of chances} (Math.), that branch of mathematics which treats of the probability of the occurrence of particular events, as the fall of dice in given positions. {To mind one's chances}, to take advantage of every circumstance; to seize every opportunity. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Chance \Chance\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Chanced}; p. pr & vb n. {Chancing}.] To happen, come or arrive, without design or expectation. ``Things that chance daily.'' --Robynson (More's Utopia). If a bird's nest chance to be before thee. --Deut. xxii. 6. I chanced on this letter. --Shak. Note: Often used impersonally; as how chances it? How chance, thou art returned so soon? --Shak. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: chance adj : occurring or appearing or singled out by chance; "their accidental meeting led to a renewal of their friendship"; "seek help from casual passers-by"; "a casual meeting"; "a chance occurrence" [syn: {accidental}, {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}] 2: an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; "bad luck caused his downfall"; "it was a chance meeting" [syn: {luck}, {fortune}, {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; "what is the probability of rain?"; "we have a good chance of winning" [syn: {probability}] 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}, {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}, {hit}, {bump}, {encounter}] From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]: Chance, MD Zip code(s): 21816 Chance, VA Zip code(s): 22439 From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Chance (Luke 10:31). "It was not by chance that the priest came down by that road at that time, but by a specific arrangement and in exact fulfilment of a plan not the plan of the priest, nor the plan of the wounded traveller, but the plan of God. By coincidence (Gr. sungkuria) the priest came down that is by the conjunction of two things in fact which were previously constituted a pair in the providence of God. In the result they fell together according to the omniscient Designer's plan This is the true theory of the divine government." Compare the meeting of Philip with the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26, 27). There is no chance" in God's empire. Chance" is only another word for our want of knowledge as to the way in which one event falls in with another (1 Sam. 6:9; Eccl. 9:11).
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