Nature
Synonyms for chance
Synonyms for chance: luck, casual, opportunity and probability. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.
The 4 synonyms for chance
Interchangeable with chance, one per sense
Audited under chance's own entry, so the meaning quoted is the one chance carries in that sense.
Recorded from the other side of the pair
These entries were written under the other word and name chance as the true synonym, so the sense quoted is theirs.
- opportunityopportunity is a noun in the sense "a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances"
- probabilityprobability is a noun in the sense "a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur"
two of these come from chance's own entries in the bank, and two were audited from the other word's side of the pair. Both directions were read by a human, and only the sense quoted differs.
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
We ran into each other by pure chance.
chance in 2 more sentences, same sense
- The intern discovered the missing invoice by chance while reorganizing the filing cabinet.
- Dear Sam, I only heard the news by chance, from a neighbor passing on her way to work.
How it behaves: In this sense, chance most often appears in the fixed adverbial phrase 'by chance', frequently intensified by 'pure' or 'sheer', across neutral to informal registers.
The true synonym
luck
Same sentence, swapped: We ran into each other by pure luck.
Close but different
The game shows these three beside the answer. Each is a real word with a real meaning and none of them fits the slot chance is in above, which is the point the reason line makes.
- prospect
- issue
- rebirth
Opposites, in this sense
design and necessity reverse chance as it is used in the sentence above. A different sense of chance takes different opposites, which is why these sit inside the sense and not at the top of the page.
- design
- necessity
occurring or appearing or singled out by chance
A chance occurrence.
The true synonym
casual
Same sentence, swapped: A casual occurrence.
Close but different
Distractors, not synonyms. This entry has no written reason line yet, so read them against the sentence and the sense above.
- shot
- meet
- round
Where chance turns up in the game
chance is the word under test in two puzzles, spread across two difficulty tiers. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in three other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.
The puzzles where chance is the trap
- hopeverb, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is trust, in the sense "expect and wish", and chance is one of the three tiles that lose.
- roomnoun, Tier 1, Foothills. The answer there is way, in the sense "space for movement", so chance is there to be ruled out.
- meetadjective, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is fitting, in the sense "being precisely fitting and right", so chance is there to be ruled out.
Play chance
The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so chance reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.
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The ring widens as it goes, from nature at Foothills outward to the whole bank.
A reason under every answer, not just a right answer
Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. chance carries 1 written reason line, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.