chance upon

Meanings

verbchance upon (third-person singular simple present chances upon, present participle chancing upon, simple past and past participle chanced upon)

present singular third person chances upon · participle present chancing upon · participle past chanced upon · past chanced upon

idiomatictransitiveTo find (someone or something) by chance.
Synonyms: chance on, come across, happen on, stumble upon

verbTo find (someone or something) by chance.

verbfind unexpectedly

Broader

Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Bulgarian слу́чвам на, слу́ча на

Greek τυχαίνω

Hungarian belebotlik, ráakad

Māori matawhaia, tūpono

Polish natrafiać, natrafić

Russian натолкну́ться

Cite this entry

APA

chance upon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chance%20upon

MLA

“chance upon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chance%20upon. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chance upon,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chance%20upon.