by chance
AdverbOpen English WordNet
Adverb (3)
- through chance“To sleep, perchance to dream …”Synonyms: perchance
- by accident“betrayed by a word haply overheard”Synonyms: haplyby luck
- without advance planning“they met accidentally”Synonyms: accidentallycircumstantiallyunexpectedlyOpposite on purpose
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
“by chance” is listed under May.
Origin: AS. pres. maeg I am able, pret. meahte, mihte; akin to D. mogen, G. mögen, OHG. mugan, magan, Icel. mega, Goth. magan, Russ. moche. √103. Cf. Dismay, Main strength, Might. The old imp. mought is obsolete, except as a provincial word.
An auxiliary verb qualifying the meaning of another verb, by expressing: (a) Ability, competency, or possibility; — now oftener expressed by can.
How may a man, said he, with idle speech, Be won to spoil the castle of his health!— Edmund Spenser
For what he [the king] may do is of two kinds; what he may do as just, and what he may do as possible.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon
For of all sad words of tongue or pen The saddest are these: “It might have been.”— John Greenleaf Whittier
(b) Liberty; permission; allowance.
Thou mayst be no longer steward.— Luke xvi. 2.
(c) Contingency or liability; possibility or probability.
Though what he learns he speaks, and may advance Some general maxims, or be right by chance.— Alexander Pope
(d) Modesty, courtesy, or concession, or a desire to soften a question or remark.
How old may Phillis be, you ask.— Matthew Prior
(e) Desire or wish, as in prayer, imprecation, benediction, and the like. “May you live happily.” John Dryden
May be, and It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, maybe, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54