Meanings
- Unexpectedly, accidentally; without foreplanning.
I stumbled across the exit by chance.
1 more example
[...] Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order to do so, had already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I, Ishmael, should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had turned out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for the present irrespective of Queequeg.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 75Synonyms: by accident
- Possibly; perhaps.
Are you by chance looking for the exit?
1 more example
If by chance you notice the fine, almost sweet maltiness of the aroma, and the brisk, dry, mineral quality of the flavors, even better.
2007 January 24, Eric Asimov, “Quiet Cover for a Vital Brew”, in New York TimesSynonyms: by any chance
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseUnexpectedly, accidentally; without foreplanning.
prepositional phrasePossibly; perhaps.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbthrough chance
adverbby accident
adverbwithout advance planning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Arabic صُدْفَةً, بِصُدْفَة
- صُدْفَةً (ṣudfatan)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- بِصُدْفَة (biṣudfa)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Bulgarian случа́йно
- случа́йно (slučájno)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Catalan per atzar, per casualitat
- per atzarunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- per casualitatunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- casualmentunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Chinese Mandarin 碰巧, 湊巧 /凑巧
- 碰巧 (pèngqiǎo)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- 湊巧 /凑巧 (còuqiǎo)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- 恰巧 (qiàqiǎo)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- 剛好 /刚好 (gānghǎo)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- 偶然 (ǒurán)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Czech náhodou
- náhodouunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Danish tilfældigt
- tilfældigtunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Dutch toevallig
- toevalligunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Esperanto okaze, hazarde
- okazeunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- hazardeunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Finnish sattumalta, sattumoisin
- sattumaltaunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- sattumoisinunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
French d'aventure, par hasard
- d'aventureunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- par hasardunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- par rencontreunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
German zufällig, von ungefähr
- zufälligunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- von ungefährunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Greek τυχαία
- τυχαία (tychaía)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Hungarian véletlenül
- véletlenülunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Italian per caso, casualmente
- per casounexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- casualmenteunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Japanese 偶然
- 偶然 (gūzen)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Korean 우연히
- 우연히 (uyeonhi)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Latin fortuītō, casu
- fortuītōunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- casuunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- temereunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Norwegian Bokmål tilfeldigvis
- tilfeldigvisunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Persian اتفاقاً
- اتفاقاً (ettefâqan)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Polish przypadkowo, przypadkiem
- przypadkowounexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- przypadkiemunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Portuguese por acaso, casualmente
- por acasounexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- casualmenteunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Romanian din întâmplare, din noroc
- din întâmplareunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- din norocunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Russian случа́йно
- случа́йно (slučájno)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Scottish Gaelic le tuiteamas
- le tuiteamasunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Slovak náhodou
- náhodouunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Spanish por casualidad, de casualidad
- por casualidadunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- de casualidadunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- con casualidadunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- casualmenteunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- por incidenciaunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- por pura casualidadunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Swahili kwa nasibu
- kwa nasibuunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Swedish av en slump
- av en slumpunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Turkish şans eseri
- şans eseriunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Ukrainian випадко́во
- випадко́во (vypadkóvo)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Urdu اچانک, اچانک سے
- اچانک (aćānak)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
- اچانک سے (aćānak sē)unexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Vietnamese tình cờ
- tình cờunexpected(ly); accidental(ly)
Cite this entry
by chance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20chance
“by chance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20chance. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by chance,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20chance.
Source: by chance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.