fortune
UK /ˈfɔːtjuːn/ · US /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃən/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms fortunes fortuning fortuned
- noun 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.”
- noun A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
- noun A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
- noun The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.
- noun Good luck. “fame and fortune”
- noun 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.”
- noun A large amount of money. “That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?”
- verb To provide (someone) with a fortune.
- verb To tell the fortune of (someone); to presage.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) To happen, to take place.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Cross County, Arkansas, United States.
Synonyms
doom fate chance destin destiny fatality foredoom foreordination kismet lot orlay portion predestination predestiny preordination qadar weird wyrd hap luck hazard circumstances
Antonyms
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”.
The name of the town in Newfoundland is derived from Portuguese fortuna (“luck, fortune”). The name may refer to a fortuitous event that occurred in the nearby bay.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident; luck; hap; also, the personified or deified power regarded as determining human success, apportioning happiness and unhappiness, and distributing arbitrarily or fortuitously the lots of life.
- noun That which befalls or is to befall one; lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny; as, to tell one's fortune.
- verb To make fortunate; to give either good or bad fortune to. [Obs.]
- verb To provide with a fortune. Richardson.
Etymology [F. fortune, L. fortuna; akin to fors, fortis, chance, prob. fr. ferre to bear, bring. See Bear to support, and cf. Fortuitous.]
Etymology [OF. fortuner, L. fortunare. See Fortune, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fortune”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details