CHANCY | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of chancy in English chancyadjective   informal uk /ˈtʃɑːn.si/ us /ˈtʃæn.si/ Add to word list Add to word list involving the possibility of something bad happening: Investing in the stock market is a chancy business. Synonym dicey informal Dangers and threats
  • balefully
  • baneful
  • banefully
  • black spot
  • hazard to someone/something
  • hazardous
  • hazardously
  • hazmat
  • hazmat suit
  • on/under pain of death idiom
  • or else idiom
  • or I'll know the reason why idiom
  • parlous
  • parlously
  • someone's bark is worse than his/her bite idiom
  • tombstoning
  • treacherously
  • triple threat
  • ultra-hazardous
  • venturesome
See more results » (Definition of chancy from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

chancy | American Dictionary

chancyadjective us /ˈtʃæn·si/ Add to word list Add to word list involving risk: The show’s financing was chancy, and that made us all nervous. (Definition of chancy from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of chancy

chancy Music needs to operate within human reach, not within a chancy hypercomplexity. From the Cambridge English Corpus These later acquisitions provide no grounds to downgrade its precursors to mere learning or chancy guesses, however. From the Cambridge English Corpus Of course, the indeterministic method - exploiting frequentism's under-determination of individual events' probabilities - can't work in a universe without irreducibly chancy events. From the Cambridge English Corpus We all know that, from the most impartial witnesses, evidence as to speed is highly chancy, to say the least of it. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 In that middle group the imponderables make selection a rather chancy affair. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Did they not suffer disadvantage from the kind of haphazard, chancy processes which have operated hitherto? From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 It may be so sometimes, but sometimes it is not so, and it is chancy whether one does it or not. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 The whole thing is com- pletely unco-ordinated and chancy to a point where forestry economy is in a most perilous balance. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 In the initial stages, it was perhaps a bit chancy. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 That is very chancy, particularly if the driver is about 50 years of age. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 We all know how chancy is the award of a medal. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 There should be something of that kind rather than wait for the always chancy business of being able to get legislation. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 That is far too chancy in the case of the herring fish industry. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Peer review, as it is called, is a decidedly chancy business, albeit it is the best that we can do. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 All the existing problems of the sketchy examination, the chancy examination and differences in standard between one county and another, go on. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of chancy?

Translations of chancy

in Chinese (Traditional) 冒險的, 有風險的… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 冒险的, 有风险的… See more in Spanish arriesgado… See more in Portuguese arriscado… See more in French in Turkish in Dutch in Czech in Danish in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Ukrainian risqué… See more riskli, sonu şüpheli… See more riskant… See more riskantní… See more risikabelt, usikkert… See more tidak pasti… See more ซึ่งมีความเสียง… See more bấp bênh… See more niepewny… See more osäker, riskabel… See more berisiko… See more riskant… See more sjansepreget, risikabelt… See more ризикований, непевний… See more Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool

Browse

chancellorship chancer chancery chancing chancy chandelier chandler chandlery change {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

Word of the Day

cosmetics

substances that you put on your face or body that are intended to improve your appearance

About this

Blog

Rocking the boat (Nautical Idioms, Part 1)

December 08, 2025 Read More

New Words

vibe working December 08, 2025 More new words has been added to list To top Contents EnglishAmericanExamplesTranslations {{#displayLoginPopup}} Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content: Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans Sign up now or Log in Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Create word lists and quizzes for free Sign up now or Log in {{/displayLoginPopup}} {{#displayClassicSurvey}} {{/displayClassicSurvey}}
  • Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
  • My profile
  • +Plus help
  • Log out
Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Translations Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Danish Danish–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese Translate Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Games {{userName}}
  • Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
  • My profile
  • +Plus help
  • Log out
Log in / Sign up English (UK) Change English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Follow us Choose a dictionary
  • Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
  • Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
  • Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
  • Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
  • Translation Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries
    • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
    • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
    • English–Danish Danish–English
    • English–Dutch Dutch–English
    • English–French French–English
    • English–German German–English
    • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
    • English–Italian Italian–English
    • English–Japanese Japanese–English
    • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
    • English–Polish Polish–English
    • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
    • English–Spanish Spanish–English
    • English–Swedish Swedish–English
    Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
  • Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents
  • English   Adjective
  • American   Adjective
  • Examples
  • Translations
  • Grammar
  • All translations
My word lists

To add chancy to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in My word lists

Add chancy to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{name}} More Go to your word lists {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} Tell us about this example sentence: The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}}

Tag » What Does The Name Chancy Mean