fortune. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

fortune

SYLLABICATION:	for·tune
PRONUNCIATION:	fôrchn
NOUN:	1a. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; luck: He decided to go home for the holidays, and his fortune turned for the worse. b. fortunes The turns of luck in the course of one's life. c. Success, especially when at least partially resulting from luck: No matter what they tried, it ended in fortune. 2a. A person's condition or standing in life determined by material possessions or financial wealth: She pursued her fortune in another country. b. Extensive amounts of material possessions or money; wealth. c. A large sum of money: spent a fortune on the new car. 3. often Fortune A hypothetical, often personified force or power that favorably or unfavorably governs the events of one's life: We believe that Fortune is on our side. 4a. Fate; destiny: told my fortune with tarot cards. b. A foretelling of one's destiny.
VERB:	Inflected forms: for·tuned, for·tun·ing, for·tunes
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. Archaic To endow with wealth. 2. Obsolete To ascribe or give good or bad fortune to.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	Archaic To occur by chance; happen.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fortna. See bher-¹ in Appendix I.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.