by any chance

prepositional phrase

Used to ask a question more politely

“You wouldn't like to come, by any chance?”

Similar
perchanceby chanceperhapspossibly
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. Used to ask a question more politely

    You wouldn't like to come, by any chance?

    1 more example

    Are you by any chance looking for a new staff member?

    Synonyms: perchance, by chance, perhaps, possibly

  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see by, any, chance.

    A perai itself, if wounded by any chance, is at once attacked and devoured by its fellows.

    1895, Charles Conrad Abbott, Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Natural History, page 599

Synonyms & antonyms

prepositional phraseUsed to ask a question more politely

Similar
perchanceby chanceperhapspossibly
Also see
by chanceperchance

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 也許 /也许, 萬一 /万一
  • 也許 /也许 (yěxǔ)possibly; perhaps
  • 萬一 /万一 (wànyī)possibly; perhaps
Finnish sattumoisin, sattumalta
  • sattumoisinpossibly; perhaps
  • sattumaltapossibly; perhaps
French par hasard, à tout hasard
  • par hasardpossibly; perhaps
  • à tout hasardpossibly; perhaps
German vielleicht
  • vielleichtpossibly; perhaps
Greek τυχόν
  • τυχόν (tychón)possibly; perhaps
Hungarian esetleg
  • esetlegpossibly; perhaps
Malay agaknya, agak-agaknya
  • agaknyapossibly; perhaps
  • agak-agaknyapossibly; perhaps
  • kalau bolehpossibly; perhaps
Polish przypadkiem
  • przypadkiempossibly; perhaps
Portuguese por acaso, por algum acaso
  • por acasopossibly; perhaps
  • por algum acasopossibly; perhaps
Russian случайно
  • случайно (slučajno)possibly; perhaps
Spanish por algún casual
  • por algún casualpossibly; perhaps
Ukrainian часом
  • часом (časom)possibly; perhaps
Cite this entry
APA

by any chance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20any%20chance

MLA

“by any chance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20any%20chance. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by any chance,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20any%20chance.

Source: by any chance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.