fortune

plural fortunes

1. countableuncountableDestiny, especially favorable.

   She read my fortune. Apparently I will have a good love life this week, but I will have a bad week for money.

   2 more examples

   you, who men's fortunes in their faces read

   1647, Abraham Cowley, “My Fate”, in The Mistress

   […]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve.

   1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax

   Synonyms: doom, fate, chance, destin, destiny, doom, fatality, fate

2. countableuncountableA prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
3. countableuncountableA small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
4. countableuncountableThe arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.

   'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.

   c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]

   Synonyms: hap, luck, adventure, accident, casualty, chance, chance-medley, hap

5. countableuncountableGood luck.

   fame and fortune

   2 more examples

   Fortune favors the brave.

   There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

   1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

   Synonyms: fortuity, felicity, fortuitousness, fortuity, good cess, good fortune, good luck, happiness · Antonyms: doom, fate, misfortune

6. countableuncountableOne's wealth; the amount of money one has, especially if it is vast.

   Her fortune is estimated at 3 million dollars.

   3 more examples

   He's amassed a small fortune working in the Middle East.

   My vast fortune was a result of inheritance and stock market nous.

   It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

   1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 1

   Synonyms: riches, abundance, affluence, cheese, ease, substance, Mammon, opulence

7. countableuncountableA large amount of money.

   That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?

   1 more example

   Why spend a small fortune on Puma when you could buy Numa, Tuna or Pigg? And why buy Adidas when you can buy Adidos or Avivas? Nike, when there's Nire or Hike? Calvin Klein, when clearly, Calvim Klain or Cavern Kernel are just as good? But remember, after a good workout, be sure to clean up with some Okay shampoo.

   2015 June 24, “Top 10 Chinese Knockoffs of Foreign Products” (00:02:53 from the start), in China Uncensored, spoken by himself (Chris Chappell), New Tang Dynasty Television, via New Tang Dynasty Television

present singular third person fortunes · participle present fortuning · participle past fortuned · past fortuned

1. transitiveTo provide (someone) with a fortune.
2. transitiveTo tell the fortune of (someone); to presage.
3. intransitiveobsoleteTo happen, to take place.First known use 14th–19th c.

   It fortuned one night that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey next morning, […]

   1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Tale of Nu̇r al-Din Ali & His Son Badr al-Din Hasan”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume I, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 195

   1 more example

   Thẽ the heerdmẽ⸝ fleed and went there ways into the cite⸝ and tolde every thinge⸝ and what had fortuned vnto them that were poſſeſſed of the devyls.

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Mathew viij:[33], folios x, verso – xi, recto

1. A surname.

   The disclosure was made in court by a detective on Friday, who also said they believed Tasia Fortune had been killed in a dispute related to drugs, US media reported.

   2026 September 25, Sareen Habeshian, Brandon Drenon, “Black woman found hanging from tree was dead before body was 'staged', US media reports”, in BBC News, retrieved 25 Sep 2026

2. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
3. An unincorporated community in Cross County, Arkansas, United States.