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Chance vs Miracle - What's the difference?

chance | miracle |

As nouns the difference between chance and miracle

is that chance is an opportunity or possibility while miracle is a wonderful event occurring in the physical world attributed to supernatural powers.

As a verb chance

is to happen by chance, to occur.

As an adjective chance

is happening by chance, casual.

As a proper noun Chance

is a given name derived from English, an American pet form of Chauncey, in modern usage also associated with the word chance.

chance

English

Alternative forms

* chaunce (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (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.

    • 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 chance

    Verb

    (chanc)
  • (archaic) To happen by chance, to occur.
    • It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxii. 6
    • if a bird's nest chance to be before thee
  • * Shakespeare
    • I chanced on this letter.
  • * 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 2, ch. XV, ''Practical — Devotional
    • 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).
  • * 1847 , , (Jane Eyre), Chapter XVIII
    • 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."
  • (archaic) To befall; to happen to.
  • * 1826 , William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent
  • To try or risk.
    • Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
  • * W. D. Howells
    • Come what will, I will chance it.
  • To discover something by chance.
    • He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.

    Derived terms

    * (l) * * (l)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (rare) Happening]] by [[#Noun, chance, casual.
  • * 1859 , (Charles Dickens), (A Tale of Two Cities)'', ch. VI, ''The Shoe Maker (Heron Book Centenial Edition)
    • 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 ----

    miracle

    English

    (wikipedia miracle)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A wonderful event occurring in the physical world attributed to supernatural powers.
    • Many religious beliefs are based on miracles .
    An example of a miracle associated with Muhammad is the splitting of the moon.
  • A fortunate outcome that prevails despite overwhelming odds against it.
  • * 1966 November 25, "A Great Document Made by Wisdom and Luck", in Life , volume 61, number 22, page 13:
    • Secondly, it was a miracle that a document hammered out with such difficulty, satisfying very few of its authors completely and satisfying some of them very little, would turn out to be the most successful political invention in history.
  • * 1993 , Hatch N. Gardner and Frank H. Winter, P-51 Mustang (Turner Publishing Company), page 78:
    • It was a miracle that I survived that ditching in the high waves because I had my seat belt and shoulder harness unbuckled in anticipation of bailing out.
  • * 2003 , Eric Lionel Jones, The European miracle: environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia (Cambridge University Press), page 218:
    • Seen in this light it was a miracle of economic history that Europe was able to undertake so much higher a proportion of its expansion overseas, and secure a massive injection of resources and big markets without a commensurate growth in her numbers.
  • An awesome and exceptional example of something
  • * 1847 , Honoré de Balzac, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life , page 323:
    • The home of our kings, over which you tread as you pace the immense hall known as the Salle des Pas-Perdus, was a miracle of architecture.
  • * 2008 , Joseph R. Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History (Cengage Learning), page 670:
    • It was a miracle' of engineering that made possible, with the cheap electricity the dam generated, another kind of ' miracle : the bizarre, superilluminated city of Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Derived terms

    * miraculous * miraculousness * miraculously

    Anagrams

    * * ----