# fortune

Pronunciation: US say "FOR-choon" /ˈfoɹt͡ʃun/; UK say "FAW-choon" /ˈfɔːt͡ʃuːn/

## Noun

1. A very large sum of money.
   - Simple: A very large amount of money.
   - _She spent a fortune renovating the historic theater._
   - _The painting sold for a small fortune at auction._
2. The total wealth a person possesses, especially when it is very large.
   - Simple: All the money and property that someone owns, usually a lot.
   - _The family built its fortune in shipping over three generations._
   - _He gambled away his entire fortune in a single year._
3. Good luck; favorable outcomes that come about by chance.
   - Simple: Good luck, or good things that happen by chance.
   - _Through sheer fortune, the climbers avoided the avalanche entirely._
   - _He attributed his success more to fortune than to skill._
4. The destiny awaiting a person, especially a favorable one.
   - Simple: The good things that fate seems to have in store for someone.
   - _He felt that fortune had marked him for greatness from birth._
   - _The oracle spoke of a glorious fortune awaiting the young prince._
5. A prediction about someone's future, as delivered by a fortune teller.
   - Simple: What a fortune teller says will happen to you in the future.
   - _The old woman told his fortune using a worn deck of cards._
   - _Tourists lined up to have their fortunes told at the boardwalk._
6. The unexpected occurrence of something by chance or accident.
   - Simple: Something that happens by chance, not because anyone planned it.
   - _Some odd fortune placed the missing key right where she could find it._
   - _By the fortune of the moment, the crowd parted and let them through._
7. A small printed slip bearing wise or loosely prophetic words, tucked inside a fortune cookie.
   - Simple: A small piece of paper with a wise saying inside a fortune cookie.
   - _After dinner, everyone compared the fortunes from their cookies._
   - _He taped the funniest fortune to his refrigerator door._

## Verb

8. To tell someone's fortune; to foretell what awaits them.
   - Simple: To tell someone what will happen to them in the future.
   - _The traveling mystics would fortune anyone who crossed their palms with silver._
   - _An old seer claimed she could fortune a child at birth._
9. To provide someone with great wealth.
   - Simple: To make someone rich by giving them a large amount of money.
   - _The discovery of oil beneath the land would fortune the whole region._
   - _A wealthy patron fortuned the young artist for life._

## Verb

10. To happen or take place. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To happen or take place, especially by chance.
   - _It so fortuned that the messenger arrived before nightfall._
   - _Whatever may fortune, the garrison will hold the gate._

## Origin

From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna ('fate, luck'). The Latin plural fortunae meant 'possessions', which is how fortune also came to mean 'riches'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fortune (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).