fortune

noun

1 luck

ADJECTIVE

▪ good

▪ bad, ill

… OF FORTUNE

▪ piece, stroke

▪

By a stroke of good fortune, Steven was still in his office.

VERB + FORTUNE

▪ have

▪ bring (sb)

▪

A horseshoe nailed to your door is supposed to bring good fortune.

FORTUNE + VERB

▪ be on sb's side, favour/favor sb, smile on sb

▪

For once, fortune was on our side: the weather improved in time for the game.

▪

Fortune smiled on me that day (= I had good fortune).

PHRASES

▪ as good fortune would have it

▪

As good fortune would have it, a bus came along just when I needed it.

▪ a change in fortune, a change of fortune

▪

All we can do is hope for a change in fortune.

▪ have the good fortune to do sth

▪

I had the good fortune to work with people I liked.

2 fortunes what happens to sb/sth

ADJECTIVE

▪ declining, flagging

▪ changing, fluctuating, mixed

▪

a year of mixed fortunes for the company

▪ economic, electoral, political

VERB + FORTUNES

▪ boost, improve, revive

▪

The party still hopes to revive its flagging electoral fortunes.

▪ reverse

▪ follow

▪

fans who follow the fortunes of their chosen team

FORTUNES + VERB

▪ change, fluctuate (esp. BrE)

▪

A company's fortunes can change overnight.

▪ improve, rise

▪ decline, fall

▪

as the country's fortunes rose and fell

PHRASES

▪ a reversal of fortune, a reversal of fortunes (esp. BrE)

▪

The company suffered a reversal of fortune when public taste changed.

3 what is going to happen to sb in the future

VERB + FORTUNE

▪ read, tell

▪

They went to have their fortunes read.

FORTUNE + NOUN

▪ teller, telling

4 very large amount of money

ADJECTIVE

▪ considerable, enormous, great, immense, large, substantial (esp. BrE), vast

▪ small (= quite large)

▪

Rebuilding the house must have cost a small fortune.

▪ family, personal

VERB + FORTUNE

▪ accumulate, acquire, amass, build, build up, earn, make, win

▪ inherit

▪ leave (sb)

▪

Her aunt died and left her a fortune.

▪ lose, squander

▪

He lost his fortune in the crash of 1929.

▪

She squandered the family fortune.

▪ find, seek

▪

They went to seek their fortune in the city.

▪ be worth

▪

Some of those old toys are worth a fortune now.

▪ cost

▪ pay, spend

▪

She spends a fortune on clothes!

FORTUNE + NOUN

▪ hunter (= a person who tries to become rich by marrying sb with a lot of money)

PREPOSITION

▪ fortune from

▪

He built his fortune from breeding horses.

▪ fortune in

▪

She made a fortune in the property boom.

▪ fortune on

▪

They sold their house at the right time and made a fortune on it.

▪ fortune out

▪

He has amassed a considerable fortune out of trading shares.

PHRASES

▪ fame and fortune

▪

They went to America in search of fame and fortune.

▪ heir to a fortune, heiress to a fortune

▪

He was sole heir to the family fortune.