chancy
adj/ˈtʃænsi/ · /ˈtʃɑːnsi/
Etymology From chance + -y.
1
Uncertain; risky; hazardous.
- In winter steam contributes a fairly high proportion of its tractive effort, say 15 per cent, to heating the train. Diesels have at the moment separate oil-fired boilers which are somewhat chancy affairs, and only electric locomotives grab unlimited power for heating which does not affect their punctuality.1960 April, G. F. Fiennes, “Unpunctuality - the cause and the cure”, in Trains Illustrated, page 244:
- You might think it's foolish This chancy rendezvous (You might think) You might think I'm crazy (All I want) All I want is you1984, Ric Ocasek, “You Might Think”, in Heartbeat City, performed by The Cars:
2
Subject to chance; random.
3
Colloquial, Dated Lucky; bringing good luck.
- His haggard gaze swept this way and that, seeking possible succour where reason told him there could be no succour; and then as his vision pieced together this outjutting architectural feature and that into a coherent picture of his immediate surroundings he knew where he was. The one bit of chancy luck in a sequence of direful catastrophes had brought him here[Pg 49] to this very spot. Why, this must be West Ninth Street; it had to be, it was—oh joy, it was!.1919, Irvin S. Cobb, The Life of the Party, page 49:
- Derived terms
- chancily, chanciness, unchancy, wanchancy