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chancy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
chancy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
chancy in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
chancy you have here. The definition of the word
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chancy, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From chance + -y.
Pronunciation
Adjective
chancy (comparative chancier, superlative chanciest)
- Uncertain; risky; hazardous.
1960 April, G. F. Fiennes, “Unpunctuality - the cause and the cure”, in Trains Illustrated, page 244:In winter steam contributes a fairly high proportion of its tractive effort, say 15 per cent, to heating the train. Diesels have at the moment separate oil-fired boilers which are somewhat chancy affairs, and only electric locomotives grab unlimited power for heating which does not affect their punctuality.
- Subject to chance; random.
- (dated, colloquial) Lucky; bringing good luck.
1919, Irvin S. Cobb, The Life of the Party, page 49:His haggard gaze swept this way and that, seeking possible succour where reason told him there could be no succour; and then as his vision pieced together this outjutting architectural feature and that into a coherent picture of his immediate surroundings he knew where he was. The one bit of chancy luck in a sequence of direful catastrophes had brought him here[Pg 49] to this very spot. Why, this must be West Ninth Street; it had to be, it was—oh joy, it was!.
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