Chance vs Promise - What's the difference?
chance | promise | Related terms |
(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)
An oath or affirmation; a vow.
A transaction between two persons whereby the first person undertakes in the future to render some service or gift to the second person or devotes something valuable now and here to his use.
* 1668 July 3rd, , “Thomas Rue contra'' Andrew Hou?toun” in ''The Deci?ions of the Lords of Council & Se??ion I (Edinburgh, 1683),
Reason to expect improvement or success; potential.
* Washington Irving
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), chapter=1
, title=(The China Governess) (computing, programming) A placeholder object that can be manipulated in code before it has been assigned a value.
(obsolete) Bestowal or fulfillment of what is promised.
* Bible, Acts i. 4
To commit to something or action; to make an oath; make a vow.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To give grounds for expectation, especially of something good.
* {{quote-book, year=1897, author=
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
As nouns the difference between chance and promise
is that chance is an opportunity or possibility while promise is an oath or affirmation; a vow.As verbs the difference between chance and promise
is that chance is to happen by chance, to occur while promise is to commit to something or action; to make an oath; make a vow.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)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 ----promise
English
Alternative forms
* promyseNoun
(en noun)pages 547–548
- He pur?ued Andrew Hou?toun upon his promi?e , to give him the like Sallary for the next year, and in ab?ence obtained him to be holden as confe?t and Decerned.
- My native country was full of youthful promise .
citation, passage=The original family who had begun to build a palace to rival Nonesuch had died out before they had put up little more than the gateway, so that the actual structure which had come down to posterity retained the secret magic of a promise rather than the overpowering splendour of a great architectural achievement.}}
- He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.
Verb
(promis)Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
- The clouds promise rain.
citation, passage=I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.}}