Chance1, n.
[Fr. chance, O. Fr. cheance, from cheoir, Lat. cadere, to fall, with reference to the falling of the dice; L. Lat. cadentia, It. cadenza, Pr. *cazensa.] 1. The absence of any defined or recognized cause; fortuity; casualty. It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason, that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify any thing really existing, any thing that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they signify merely men's ignorance of the real and immediate cause. A. Clark. 2. An event which happens without any assigned cause. I spoke of most disastrous chances. Shak. 3. The possibility of an occurrence; opportunity. Your ladyship might have a chance to escape this address. Swift. Theory, or doctrine, of chances, that branch of mathematics by which the probability of the occurrence of a particular event, as the fall of a die in a given position, is determined.