to chance upon

Examples

• All

• Even though he didn't understand Hebrew, he sensed that he had chanced upon a quarrel between husband and wife.

  Fiction book (1994)

• Karin chances upon his books and finds them fascinating.

  Academic text (2009)

• You know it only by its eyes, which burn as red as coals, and if one should chance upon you...

  Jane Eyre (2011)

• There he chanced upon a beautiful milk maid.

  Dudley Do-Right (1999)

• At the corner, Leonid chanced upon an old friend standing under the street lamp.

  Fiction book (1995)

• By wandering from Ageo Station, I unexpectedly chanced upon this shop.

  Emotion Is Dead (2024)

• Nice blog that you maintain here. I just chanced upon your blog while surfing the blogosphere.

  Blog text (19)

• Searching the makeshift hospitals that were pitched along the waterways, Hirose had hoped to chance upon a surviving member of his family.

  Fiction book (2001)

• Billie and Ted Alloway had been traveling through the Caribbean when they chanced upon the Damrosches in the lobby of their hotel.

  The Cathedral (2022)

• To my surprise and delight, I have chanced upon Don Paolino Esteban, the master boat builder of the totora for Thor Heydahl's Ra II expedition.

  Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

D

to discover

vsto chance upon

∞ 1.0

To find out about something for the first time, often by chance

focuses on meeting or encountering others rather than broad first awareness

C

to come across

vsto chance upon

244 2.6

To find something or someone by chance

usually happens by accident rather than by mere chance

S

to stumble

vsto chance upon

171 2.8

To find something by chance

usually happens by accident rather than by mere chance

C

to come upon

vsto chance upon

50 2.2

To find something or someone by chance

typically happens by accident rather than by chance

R

to run across

vsto chance upon

43 2.7

Find something by chance while doing something else

typically occurs by accident without happening during another activity

C

to chance on

vsto chance upon

18 6.1

To find something or someone by accident while doing something else

usually happens by accident rather than by luck

H

to happen upon

vsto chance upon

15 4.9

Find a person or thing by chance

occurs more often by accident than by chance

H

to hit upon

vsto chance upon

7 4.9

To find or think of something by chance

usually happens by accident without prior searching or thought

F

to fall upon

vsto chance upon

5 3.6

To find something by chance

typically happens by accident rather than by ordinary chance

L

to light upon

vsto chance upon

2 5.6

To find something by chance

is used more for accidental meetings than for general discovery

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology