perchance

From Middle English parchaunce, from Old French par cheance (“by chance”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌpɜːˈtʃɑːns/, /pəˈtʃɑːns/

  • Audio (Southern England); /pə-/:

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌpɜɹˈtʃæns/, /pəɹˈtʃæns/, [ˌpɝˈt͡ʃʰɛə̯ns], [pɚˈt͡ʃʰɛə̯ns]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːns, -æns

perchance (not comparable)

1. (dated) Perhaps.

   Synonyms: perhaps, maybe, peradventure, mayhap, possibly, by chance, by any chance

   Coordinate terms: probably, certainly, definitely; perforce, inevitably

   You wouldn't, perchance, have a bottle opener on you, would you?

   • 1624, John Donne, chapter XVII, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC:

     Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him […]

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Palace of Art”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 154:

     “Yet pull not down my palace towers, that are / So lightly, beautifully built: / Perchance I may return with others there / When I have purged my guilt.”

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, section XXVII:

     A great black bird, Apollyon's bosom-friend, / Sailed past, nor beat his wide wing dragon-penned / That brushed my cap—perchance the guide I sought.