prosperity
Americannoun
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a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.
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prosperities, prosperous circumstances, characterized by financial success or good fortune.
noun
Usage
What does prosperity mean? Prosperity is success or the state of success, especially financial or material success. Prosperity often implies success in terms of wealth, health, and happiness. But it can also be used more broadly. The verb prosper means to achieve prosperity. Someone who achieves prosperity can be described as prosperous. The word prosperity is often paired with words like peace and wealth, such as when wishing people well, as in May your year be full of peace and prosperity. Example: You can achieve prosperity through dedication and hard work.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prosperity
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English prosperite, from Old French, from Latin prosperitās; see prosperous, -ity
Explanation
Use prosperity to refer to the state of being successful. In the US, the decades following World War II were characterized by rising prosperity, with large numbers moving into the middle class. Prosperity usually means the type of success that comes from having a lot of money. Our modern English word derives from Middle English prosperite, borrowed through Old French from Latin prosperus "favorable." The Latin word also means "fortunate," and the word prosperity does have an element of good luck.
Vocabulary lists containing prosperity
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Animal Farm
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Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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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.
See Examples For:
Research on financial well-being suggests for young Americans today, securing a sense of prosperity and independence requires reaching this six-figure milestone earlier in life, as time is so valuable in investing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
No one has done more than the two of them to work towards peace and prosperity in the region.”
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
He has hailed the new arrangements as bringing down "the last wall" inside the EU, saying they would create a zone of shared prosperity.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
“The real way to get back to prosperity is we need the local economy to thrive again,” said Chi, the city manager.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
It was a delirious prosperity that even made him laugh, and he could not help doing crazy things to release his good humor.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Studying the composition and other prosperities the inner three planets could also improve understanding how unusual ultra-low density super puff planets formed, the researchers said.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
Drawing on the inheritance of an almost folkloric wisdom, Garcia is unafraid of suggesting that passion is "a frail interlude between the prosperities of loss."
From Time Magazine Archive
M. Coquenard wished him all sorts of prosperities.
From The Three Musketeers by Dumas père, Alexandre
There you go, brothers, in your gilt carriages and prosperities, better or worse, and make an extreme bother and confusion, the devil very largely in it….
From Historical Essays by Rhodes, James Ford
All the great empires of the world, all financial, industrial, and commercial prosperities of the world, have given us a proof of it, each in turn.
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.
