providential
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or resulting from divine providence.
providential care.
-
opportune, fortunate, or lucky.
a providential event.
- Synonyms:
- happy
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of providential
1640–50; < Latin prōvidenti ( a ) providence + -al 1
Explanation
If your best friend pulls up beside you in her convertible just as your bike gets a flat tire, you could call it providential, or magically lucky. The Latin root of providential is providentia, "foresight or precaution." Providence changed over the years; it usually referred specifically to the care of God, and it was spelled with a capital P. Providential, likewise, has another meaning that's purely religious, "resulting from God's intervention." Whether you're talking about God or not, if something is providential, it feels a little miraculous.
Vocabulary lists containing providential
30 GRE Words Beginning with "P"
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Twilight
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GRE Verbal Reasoning, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Providential for Leishman, given he booked a trip to the Aloha State before his triumph in Malaysia.
From Golf Digest • Oct. 14, 2018
It is time we got used to this term, which requires that we discredit our densely layered mythologies to the effect that class conflict occurs elsewhere but never in our Providential land.
From Salon • Jul. 8, 2015
Providential turns of event reliably rescue the main characters, as if this was a romp, though, not a comedy.
From The Guardian • Apr. 8, 2013
Catastrophe overtook these gentlemen through the Providential Premium Reassurance Society, known to its intimates as the P. P. R. S. Manager Elderson of the Society brought ruin upon it and then decamped.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was sensible to the Providential agency that saved him from the Judas, Orlick.
From The Red Debt Echoes from Kentucky by MacDonald, Everett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
