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View synonyms for fortuitous

fortuitous

[ fawr-too-i-tuhs, -tyoo- ]

adjective

  1. happening or produced by chance; accidental:

    a fortuitous encounter.

    Synonyms: incidental

  2. a series of fortuitous events that advanced her career.



fortuitous

/ fɔːˈtjuːɪtəs /

adjective

  1. happening by chance, esp by a lucky chance; unplanned; accidental
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Confusables Note

Fortuitous has developed in sense from “happening by chance” to “happening by lucky chance” to simply “lucky, fortunate.” This development was probably influenced by the similarity of fortuitous to fortunate and perhaps to felicitous : A fortuitous late-night snowfall made for a day of great skiing. Many object to the use of fortuitous to mean simply “fortunate” and insist that it should be limited to its original sense of “accidental.” In modern standard use, however, fortuitous almost always carries the senses both of accident or chance and luck or fortune. It is infrequently used in its sense of “accidental” without the suggestion of good luck, and even less frequently in the sense “lucky” without at least a suggestion of accident or chance: A fortuitous encounter with a former schoolmate led to a new and successful career for the artist.
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Derived Forms

  • forˈtuitousness, noun
  • forˈtuitously, adverb
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Other Words From

  • for·tui·tous·ly adverb
  • for·tui·tous·ness noun
  • nonfor·tui·tous adjective
  • nonfor·tui·tous·ly adverb
  • nonfor·tui·tous·ness noun
  • unfor·tui·tous adjective
  • unfor·tui·tous·ly adverb
  • unfor·tui·tous·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of fortuitous1

First recorded in 1645–55; from Latin fortuitus, fortuītus, equivalent to fortu- (u-stem base, otherwise unattested, akin to fors, genitive fortis “chance, luck”) + -itus, -ītus adjective suffix (for formation gratuitous ); -ous
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Word History and Origins

Origin of fortuitous1

C17: from Latin fortuitus happening by chance, from forte by chance, from fors chance, luck
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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

That is just the first of several fortuitous twists of fate.

Over time, a sphere of rock formed around the fossil before eventually breaking open in a fortuitous way.

It was a far less fortuitous time to be an autistic person in the real world.

From Time

It was a fortuitous find, as most of the brewery’s archives had been destroyed in a series of fires.

It was a fortuitous time to have one, for the pressing question of the day regarding her race was how to deal with its continued subjugation, often enforced by lynching.

“It was a fortuitous discovery,” Bruenn told The Daily Beast last week.

But all kinds of fortuitous circumstances—important people “seeing that”—led him to getting cast in Inside Llewyn Davis.

All of which is why the juxtaposition of these two cases is fortuitous.

And 1968 was a fortuitous year to become European Champions: it was the year that defined an age.

What is useful in sport might be less fortuitous in other circumstances.

But the inordinate and fortuitous gains from land are really only one example from a general class.

In short, birth was fortuitous, a product of circumstance plus proximity, its get a biological accident.

Many finds have been simply fortuitous, but tombs have been the most valuable repositories.

This one has ended in a great good; really, it's the most fortuitous happening in my brief career as a minister of the Gospel.

No one supposes the agreement with the phenomena of light with the theory of undulations to be merely fortuitous.

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