fortune
see also: Fortune
Etymology

From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈfoɹt͡ʃun/, /-t͡ʃən/
Noun

fortune

  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.
    • 1647, Abraham Cowley, “My Fate”, in The Mistress:
      you, who men's fortunes in their faces read
  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.
    • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC ↗, [Act 2, scene 3] ↗:
      'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
  5. Good luck.
    fame and fortune
    Fortune favors the brave.
    • 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]:
      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.
  7. A large amount of money.
    That car must be worth a fortune! How could you afford it?
Synonyms Antonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

fortune (fortunes, present participle fortuning; simple past and past participle fortuned)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To provide (someone) with a fortune.
    2. To tell the fortune of (someone); to presage.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To happen, to take place. [14th]
    • 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 ↗:
      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.
    • 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 ↗:
      It fortuned one night that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey next morning, […]

Fortune
Etymology

The name of the town in Newfoundland is derived from Portuguese fortuna.

Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈfɔː.t͡ʃuːn/
  • (America) IPA: /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃən/
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. A town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador.
  3. An unincorporated community in Cross County, Arkansas.
Related terms
  • East Fortune



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