sporting chance

noun

sporting chance

noun

1

A fairly reasonable chance of success.

You think he has a sporting chance? I wouldn't call even him a long shot!
Whether there was some old solemn feud between those railways, or whether both had united to grant a sporting chance to other means of conveyance, the fact remained that no matter how you juggled with timetables, a three-hour wait at Albany between trains was the briefest you could hope to achieve.1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 4.8, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 102:

1 more example

Professional hunters and trackers die too, in the pursuit of dangerous animals every year. Stones and his client voice reverence for what they call “fair chase”: an ethical distinction observed in certain sporting circles in which the quarry is felt to have a sporting chance of survival.2026 April 21, Cal Flyn, “On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife”, in The Guardian:

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