kismet

[kiz-met, kis-]

noun

1. fate; destiny.

   It must have been kismet that brought the bride and groom together a year ago.

kismet

/ ˈkɪzmɛt, ˈkɪs- /

noun

1. Islam the will of Allah

2. fate or destiny

Word History and Origins

Origin of kismet¹

First recorded in 1840–50; from Turkish, from Persian qismat, from Arabic qisma, qismat- “division, portion, lot, fate,” akin to qasama “(he) divided,” from the (West) Semitic root qsm “to divide, allot”

Word History and Origins

Origin of kismet¹

C19: from Turkish, from Persian qismat, from Arabic qasama he divided

Example Sentences

A similar sort of casting kismet struck with Frankenstein when Andrew Garfield’s schedule forced him out of the monster role nine weeks before shooting was set to begin.

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Then all of a sudden “The Pitt” happened — and it felt like kismet.

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The filming location was not intentional, López recalled — it was simply the closest subway station to LaVoo’s apartment— but something about that moment feels like kismet now.

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“It’s sort of a strange circle … There’s something kismet about the whole thing.”

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“Never Too Late” is uninterested in being much more than a glorified Wikipedia page, but it strikes up a kismet conversation with the Elton John of right now.

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When To Use

What does kismet mean?

Kismet means fate or destiny.In Islam, kismet refers to the will of Allah. But it is popularly used to refer to something that one believes was “meant to be”—or the reason why such a thing happened. It can also be spelled kismat, but that’s much less common.Example: We ran into each other on Valentine’s Day, and neither of us had a date, so who was I to deny kismet?