Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

Chance (Absence of purpose in the succession of events)

Nouns
  • chance etc. [Absence of assignable cause.] Chance
  • lot, fate etc. (necessity) Necessity
  • luck
  • good luck etc. (good) Good
  • mascot. speculation, venture, stake, game of chance
  • mere shot, random shot
  • blind bargain, leap in the dark
  • pig in a poke etc. (uncertainty) Uncertainty
  • fluke, potluck
  • faro bank
  • flyer [Slang]
  • limit. uncertainty
  • uncertainty principle, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. drawing lots
  • sortilegy, sortition
  • sortes, sortes Virgilianae
  • hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo [U.S.], craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice
  • wager
  • bet, betting
  • gambling
  • the turf. gaming house, gambling house, betting house
  • bucket shop
  • gambling joint
  • totalizator, totalizer
  • hell
  • betting ring
  • dice, dice box. [person who takes chances] gambler, gamester
  • man of the turf
  • adventurer
  • dicer.
Verbs
  • chance etc. (hap) [Absence of assignable cause.] Chance
  • stand a chance etc. (be possible) Possibility. toss up
  • cast lots, draw lots
  • leave to chance, trust to chance, leave to the chapter of accidents, trust to the chapter of accidents
  • tempt fortune
  • chance it, take one's chance, take a shot at it (attempt) Essay
  • run the risk, run the chance, incur the risk, incur the chance, encounter the risk, encounter the chance
  • stand the hazard of the die. speculate, try one's luck, set on a cast, raffle, put into a lottery, buy a pig in a poke, shuffle the cards. risk, venture, hazard, stake
  • ante
  • lay, lay a wager
  • make a bet, wager, bet, gamble, game, play for
  • play at chuck farthing.
Adjectives
  • fortuitous etc. [Absence of assignable cause.] Chance
  • unintentional, unintended
  • accidental
  • not meant
  • undesigned, purposed
  • unpremeditated etc. Impulse
  • unforeseen, uncontemplated, never thought of. random, indiscriminate, promiscuous
  • undirected
  • aimless, driftless, designless, purposeless, causeless
  • without purpose. possible etc. Possibility. unforeseeable, unpredictable, chancy, risky, speculative, dicey.
Adverbs
  • randomly, by chance, fortuitously
  • unpredictably, unforeseeably
  • casually etc. [Absence of assignable cause.] Chance
  • unintentionally etc. adj.
  • by the way, incidentally
  • as it may happen
  • at random, at a venture, at haphazard.
Phrases
  • fearful concatenation of circumstances" [D. Webster]
  • fortuitous combination of circumstances" [Dickens]
  • the happy combination of fortuitous the happy combination of fortuitous circumstances" [Scott]
  • the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms" [Bentley]
  • God does not play dice with the universe" [A. Einstein].