fortune

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Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈfɔːtʃuːn/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈfɔɹtʃən/, /ˈfɔɹtʃun/

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, The Mistress (“My Fate”):

     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.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act 2, Scene 3:

     'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.

5. Good luck.

   Fortune favors the brave.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3:

     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

• (the arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner) hap, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
• (one's wealth) riches; see also Thesaurus:wealth

Antonyms

• (good luck) doom, misfortune

Translations

• French: destin
• German: Schicksal, Glück
• Italian: sorte, destino, fortuna
• Portuguese: destino, fortuna, sina
• Russian: судьба́
• Spanish: fortuna

Translations

• German: Glück
• Portuguese: chance
• Russian: возмо́жность
• Spanish: fortuna

Translations

• French: bonne chance
• German: Glück
• Italian: fortuna
• Portuguese: fortuna, fortúnio, sorte
• Russian: уда́ча
• Spanish: fortuna

Translations

• French: fortune
• German: Vermögen
• Italian: fortuna, dote
• Portuguese: fortuna
• Russian: бога́тство

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To happen, take place. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew ch. 8:

     Then the heerdmen, fleed and went there ways into the cite, and tolde everythinge, and what had fortuned unto them that were possessed of the devyls.

2. To provide with a fortune.
3. To presage; to tell the fortune of.

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