peradventure

peradventure means perchance or maybe; perhaps; supposing. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 78 out of 100.

Why “peradventure” is a great word

PERADVENTURE — [Adverb, Noun] As an adverb, it means perhaps or maybe; as a noun, it refers to chance, doubt, or uncertainty. From Middle English peraventure, peradventure, from Old French par aventure ("by chance"). The spelling was later modified as though from Latin, making it equivalent to per- ("through, by") + adventure ("chance, risk"). First recorded in English c. 1250–1300. Unlike "perhaps," a common and neutral term for possibility, or "doubt," which denotes a state of disbelief, peradventure formalizes contingency itself, carrying a deliberate antique weight. It is the creak of a galleon's timbers in a dead calm, the unbet-upon card in a gambler’s sleeve, the fragile asterisk appended to a philosopher's most certain claim—a linguistic heirloom that preserves the elegant, antique architecture of a world where outcomes were hazarded, not calculated.

Etymology

From Middle English peraventure, peradventure, from Old French par aventure. Spelling modified as though from Latin. Equivalent to per- + adventure.

adv

Perchance or maybe; perhaps; supposing.“For be God the Propheit was commandit to stand in the entress of the Lordis house, and to speik to all the cieties of Juda that come to wirschip in the house of the Lord; and was commandit to keip no word aback, gif peradventure, sayeth the Lord, thay will herkin and turne everie man frome his wickit way.”

noun

Chance, doubt or uncertainty.“Covetousness cracks the sinews of faith; numbs the apprehension of any thing above sense; and only affected with the certainty of things present, makes a peradventure of things to come […]”