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"; "we ran into each other by pure chance"
        [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}, {bump},
         {encounter}]
Source: WordNet® 2.0