Meanings
bechance1
present singular third person bechances · participle present bechancing · participle past bechanced · past bechanced
- archaictransitiveTo happen (to); befall to.
Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances, / Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; / Let there bechance him pitiful mischances, / To make him moan; but pity not his moans: / Stone him with harden'd hearts, harder than stones
1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
bechance2
- not comparableAccidentally; by chance.
[Y]et we haue withſtood them till at the last battayle of Branxſton, where we bechaunce loſt our ſouereigne Lorde, and many noble men, but that was by treaſon of his Lord Chamberleyn, and yet I thinke we wanne the field: […]
1569, Richard Grafton, “Henry the Eyght”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 1073
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo happen; chance.
More synonyms by meaning
verbhappen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
bechance · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ep-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éps
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁épi
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁pi
- Proto-Germanic*bi
- Proto-Germanic*bi-
- Proto-West Germanic*bi-
- Old Englishbe-
- Middle Englishbi-
- Englishbe-
- Englishchance
- Englishbechance
bechance · adverb
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ep-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁éps
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁épi
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁pi
- Proto-Germanic*bi
- Proto-Germanic*bi-
- Proto-West Germanic*bi-
- Old Englishbe-
- Middle Englishbi-
- Englishbe-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱad-
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱádeti
- Proto-Italic*kadō
- Latincadō
- Latincadēns
- Vulgar Latin*cadentia
- Anglo-Normancheance
- Middle Englishchaunce
- Englishchance
- Englishbechance
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bechance
Cite this entry
bechance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bechance
“bechance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bechance. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bechance,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bechance.
Source: bechance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.