Chance vs Certainty - What's the difference?
chance | certainty |
(countable) An opportunity or possibility.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Here was my chance . I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.}}
(uncountable) Random occurrence; luck.
(countable) The probability of something happening.
(archaic) To happen by chance, to occur.
* Bible, Deuteronomy xxii. 6
* Shakespeare
* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
* 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
(archaic) To befall; to happen to.
* 1826 , William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent
To try or risk.
* W. D. Howells
To discover something by chance.
(rare) Happening]] by [[#Noun, chance, casual.
* 1859 , (Charles Dickens), (A Tale of Two Cities)'', ch. VI, ''The Shoe Maker (Heron Book Centenial Edition)
The state of being certain.
* Fisher Ames
An instance of being certain.
A fact or truth unquestionably established.
* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, "
* 1824 , (Walter Savage Landor), Imaginary Conversations Volume 1
As a proper noun chance
is , an american pet form of chauncey, in modern usage also associated with the word chance.As a noun certainty is
the state of being certain.chance
English
Alternative forms
* chaunce (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "chance") * Buckley's chance * by chance * chance'd be a fine thing * chance fracture * chance-medley * chancer * chances are * chancy * Chinaman's chance * dog's chance * even chance * fair chance * fat chance * fighting chance * first-chance exception * game of chance * half a chance * happy chance * in with a chance * jump at the chance * last chance * last chance saloon * main chance * mum chance * not a chance * off chance/off-chance * outside chance * perchance * slim chance * smart chance * snowball's chance * snowball's chance in hell * sporting chance * stand a chanceVerb
(chanc)- It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
- if a bird's nest chance to be before thee
- I chanced on this letter.
- Once it chanced that Geoffrey Riddell (Bishop of Ely), a Prelate rather troublesome to (w), made a request of him for timber from his woods towards certain edifices going on at (Glemsford).
- Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."
- Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
- Come what will, I will chance it.
- He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
Derived terms
* (l) * * (l)Adjective
(en adjective)- No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at any of the many windows; not even a chance passer-by was in the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there.
References
* *Statistics
* 1000 English basic words ----certainty
English
Noun
- The certainty of punishment is the truest security against crimes.
Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
- Yet the truth is that City would probably have been coasting by that point if the referee, Michael Oliver, had not turned down three separate penalties, at least two of which could be accurately described as certainties .
- Certainties are uninteresting and sating.