felicitous
Americanadjective
-
well-suited for the occasion, as an action, manner, or expression; apt; appropriate.
The chairman's felicitous anecdote set everyone at ease.
-
having a special ability for suitable manner or expression, as a person.
adjective
-
well-chosen; apt
-
possessing an agreeable style
-
producing or marked by happiness
Commonly Confused
See fortuitous.
Other Word Forms
- felicitously adverb
- felicitousness noun
- nonfelicitous adjective
- nonfelicitously adverb
- nonfelicitousness noun
- unfelicitous adjective
- unfelicitously adverb
- unfelicitousness noun
Etymology
Origin of felicitous
First recorded in 1725–35; felicit(y) + -ous
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.
Some of Sondheim’s best jokes are swallowed up in the imbalance between singers and orchestra, a situation exacerbated by a perhaps unanticipated and more felicitous problem: the audiences’ frequent boisterous response.
From Washington Post • Mar. 26, 2023
A win for this film would be nothing less than felicitous in a post-#MeToo Hollywood.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2023
And his name is not the most felicitous in British history: The first King Charles, grandson of Mary Queen of Scots, was also beheaded.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2022
Eleven time zones away at Pebble Beach, that felicitous meeting of land and sea, Monahan professes not to be overly concerned with what’s going on in Saudi Arabia.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 1, 2022
She had even commissioned someone to write felicitous messages on red banners, as if my parents themselves had draped these decorations to congratulate me on my good luck.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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.
