by chance

by chance

1. Unexpectedly, accidentally; without foreplanning.

   I stumbled across the exit by chance.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 16, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 75:

     [...] Yojo had told him two or three times over, and strongly insisted upon it everyway, that instead of our going together among the whaling-fleet in harbor, and in concert selecting our craft; instead of this, I say, Yojo earnestly enjoined that the selection of the ship should rest wholly with me, inasmuch as Yojo purposed befriending us; and, in order to do so, had already pitched upon a vessel, which, if left to myself, I, Ishmael, should infallibly light upon, for all the world as though it had turned out by chance; and in that vessel I must immediately ship myself, for the present irrespective of Queequeg.

2. Possibly; perhaps.

   Synonym: by any chance

   Are you by chance looking for the exit?

   • 2007 January 24, Eric Asimov, “Quiet Cover for a Vital Brew”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     If by chance you notice the fine, almost sweet maltiness of the aroma, and the brisk, dry, mineral quality of the flavors, even better.

• Come By Chance