🎲 A possibility 🍀 By luck 🤷 Unplanned 🎰 To risk 🔎 To find by accident

chance

28 3.7

Happening without a plan or intention

adjective
/tʃæns/

: fortuito

By pure chance, they met each other at the café after so many years.

Examples

He stumbled upon a hidden garden, an unexpected beauty found purely by chance.
The book fell off the shelf not because of a push, but simply by chance.
An exact way, Not by chance, but in an exact way.
An exact way, Not by chance, but in an exact way.

Synonyms

random

vschance

644 3.4

Happening without a plan and by chance

is about unplanned events rather than emphasizing lack of pattern

spontaneous

vschance

169 4.2

Happening naturally without planning or outside cause

is about unplanned events, not inner impulses

accidental

vschance

128 3.0

Happening by chance and not planned

names an unplanned occurrence rather than describing it

coincidental

vschance

32 4.8

Happening by chance at the same time as something else

is the general term for unplanned events, not only time matches

unintentional

vschance

25 4.1

Happening by accident

is about lack of planning rather than absence of intent

fortuitous

vschance

Formal

15 7.3

Happening by chance in a lucky or helpful way

is neutral and does not imply luck or benefit

casual

vschance

5 2.5

Happening by chance and not planned

is the broader term for events not planned or intended

purely coincidental

vschance

4 5.1

Happening only by chance and not planned

is the general idea of an unplanned event without stressing totality

Antonyms

planned

503 1.0

Arranged before it happens on purpose

intentional

109 3.9

Done on purpose and not by accident

Idioms

by chance

184 2.3

Happening without planning or intending

on the off chance

18 6.7

Just in case there is a small chance something will happen

fat chance

Informal

12 8.1

A way to say something is very unlikely to happen

in with a chance

2 6.0

Having a real possibility of succeeding at something

Chinaman's chance

Slur

1 9.9

A very small chance, expressed by an old insulting phrase

dog's chance

1 8.4

A very small hope of success

Tinker to Evers to Chance

Informal

9.9

A famous baseball double play that stands for perfect teamwork

Compounds

second chance

271 2.3

An opportunity to try again after making a mistake

fighting chance

Informal

29 4.0

A real chance to succeed despite the difficulty

fair chance

14 2.4

A good but not certain chance of success

slim chance

14 3.4

A very small possibility that something will happen

game of chance

12 3.7

An activity where luck decides the result, like a lottery or roulette

chance of rain

7 2.2

How likely it is to rain at a time or place

outside chance

Informal

6 3.5

A very small possibility that something will happen

chance event

2 3.4

An event that happens by accident and is not planned

chance of reconciliation

1 4.8

The possibility that two people will be friendly again after a disagreement

sporting chance

1 3.5

A fair possibility of success that is not certain

last chance saloon

1 7.0

A final chance to succeed or avoid failure

happy chance

1 3.9

A lucky unexpected event that brings something good

chance music

Specialized

1 9.9

Music in which some sounds happen by accident or by a player's choice

chance variable

Specialized

1 7.9

A number that takes different values by chance in statistics to show random results

chance-half correlation

Specialized

9.8

A number that shows how similar scores are between two random halves of a test

chance-medley

Archaic

9.9

An unplanned killing during a sudden fight, often in self-defence

How Planned

deliberate

137 4.1

planned

503 1.0

chance

28 3.7

accidental

128 3.0

random

644 3.4

Surface Forms

chance positive

Etymology

Chance as an adjective comes from the same root casus meaning 'a fall', so it keeps the idea of something not planned or done by accident. That's why a 'chance' meeting is an unplanned meeting.