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.
A win for this film would be nothing less than felicitous in a post-#MeToo Hollywood.
From Salon • Mar. 11, 2023
This winter, by some felicitous coincidence, the Wheel of Fortune has delivered two delightful books about Alison.
From Washington Post • Feb. 15, 2023
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
In Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow,” survival in the 1820s Northwest takes the form of a felicitous friendship between itinerant baker Cookie and Chinese immigrant King-Lu.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2021
Though no such felicitous circumstance transpired, still I walked with light enough step.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
