different between fortune vs misfortune

English

Etymology

From Middle English fortune, from Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna (“fate, luck”). The plural form fortunae meant “possessions”, which also gave fortune the meaning of “riches”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??t?u?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??t??n/, /?f??t?un/

Noun

fortune (countable and uncountable, plural fortunes)

1. Destiny, especially favorable.
   • 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Mistress (“My Fate”):

     you, who men's fortunes in their faces read
2. A prediction or set of predictions about a person's future provided by a fortune teller.
3. A small slip of paper with wise or vaguely prophetic words printed on it, baked into a fortune cookie.
4. The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act 2, Scene 3:

     'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.

5. Good luck.
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Act 4, Scene 3:

     There is a tide in the affairs of men / Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

6. One's wealth; the amount of money one has; especially, if it is vast.

7. A large amount of money.

Synonyms

• (the arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner): hap, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck
• (one's wealth): riches; see also Thesaurus:wealth

Antonyms

• (good luck): doom, misfortune

Derived terms

Related terms

• fortuitous
• fortuity

Translations

Verb

fortune (third-person singular simple present fortunes, present participle fortuning, simple past and past participle fortuned)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To happen, take place. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Matthew ch. 8:

     Then the heerdmen, fleed and went there ways into the cite, and tolde everythinge, and what had fortuned unto them that were possessed of the devyls.
2. To provide with a fortune.
   • 1740, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded

     When the broken-fortuned peer goes into the city to marry a rich tradesman's daughter , be he duke or earl , does not his consort immediately become ennobled by his choice ?

3. To presage; to tell the fortune of.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

Anagrams

• ten-four

French

Etymology

From Middle French fortune, from Old French fortune, borrowed from Latin fort?na.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??.tyn/

Noun

fortune f (plural fortunes)

1. fortune

   faire une fortune

   make a fortune

   faire fortune

   make a fortune

Derived terms

Further reading

• “fortune” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [for?t?u?.ne]
• Rhymes: -une

Noun

fortune f

1. plural of fortuna

Anagrams

• funtore

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French fortune, from Latin fortuna.

Noun

fortune (plural fortunes)

1. fortune (fate, chance)

Descendants

• English: fortune
  • ? Welsh: ffortiwn
• Scots: fortuin

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French fortune, borrowed from Latin fortuna.

Noun

fortune f (plural fortunes)

1. fortune (fate, chance)

Descendants

• French: fortune

English

Etymology

mis- +? fortune

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t?u?n/

Noun

misfortune (countable and uncountable, plural misfortunes)

1. (uncountable) Bad luck.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

   The worst tour I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

   It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. - Ulysses S. Grant

2. (countable) an undesirable event such as an accident
   • 1839, Charles Robert Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle., Chapter X

     The snowstorm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!

   She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes.

Synonyms

• (bad luck): mishap, misluck, mischance, ill luck, hard luck, tough luck, luckless
• (undesirable event): adversity, nakba

Antonyms

• (bad luck): luck, good luck, fortune, good fortune
• (undesirable event): fortuity

Related terms

• misfortunate

Translations

Anagrams

• uniformest