mischance means bad luck, misfortune. It carries an Arena rating of 1774, earned across 105 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mischance ranks #2,168 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,479 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #3,573 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,947 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
mischance is pronounced /mɪsˈtʃɑːns/.
Why “mischance” is a great word
MISCHANCE — [Noun] An instance of bad luck or an unfortunate accident. From Anglo-Norman meschance, Old French meschance, meschaunce, from mes- ("badly, wrongly") + chance ("luck, fortune"). Unlike "mishap," which often implies a minor or even humorous accident, or "adversity," which suggests a state of serious, prolonged hardship, mischance carries the specific weight of plain, singular ill-fortune. It is the letter lost in the rain that contained a final reply, the slip of a foot on the one unseen patch of ice, or the single misread digit that voids a long-awaited ticket—a quiet, indifferent pivot on which a day, or a life, can turn.
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman meschance, Old French meschance, meschaunce.
noun
- Bad luck, misfortune.e.g.“But let this same be presently perform'd / Even when men's minds are wild, lest more mischance / On plots and errors happen.” — c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggar
- A mishap, an unlucky circumstance.e.g.“He doth miraculously protect from thieves, incursions, sword, fire, and all violent mischances […]” — 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section
verb
- To undergo (a misfortune); to suffer (something unfortunate).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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