fortune
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈfɔːtjuːn//
- United Kingdom//-t͡ʃuːn//
- United Kingdom//-tjən//
- United Kingdom//-t͡ʃən//
Destiny, especially favorable.
noun
- 1
Destiny, 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.
you, who men's fortunes in their faces read
[…]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.
- 2
A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
- 3
A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
- 4
The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.
'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
- 5
Good luck.
fame and fortune
Fortune favors the brave.
There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
- 6
One's wealth; the amount of money one has, especially if it is vast.
He's amassed a small fortune working in the Middle East.
My vast fortune was a result of inheritance and stock market nous.
Her fortune is estimated at 3 million dollars.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
- 7
A large amount of money.
That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?
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.
Etymology
From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna (“fate, luck”). The plural form fortunae meant “possessions”, which also gave fortune the meaning of “riches”.
verb
- 1
To provide (someone) with a fortune.
- 2
To tell the fortune of (someone); to presage.
- 3
obsoleteTo happen, to take place.
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.
It fortuned one night that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey next morning, […]
Forms
- plural
- fortunes
- past tense
- fortuned
- past participle
- fortuned
- present participle
- fortuning
- third person singular
- fortunes
fortune · Destiny, especially favorable.
Fortune · A surname.forty · The cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine and before…forty-five · Cardinal number after forty-four and before forty-six.