kismet

American  

[kiz-met, kis-] / ˈkɪz mɛt, ˈkɪs- /

noun

1. fate; destiny.

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

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kismet British  

/ ˈkɪzmɛt, ˈkɪs- /

noun

1. Islam the will of Allah

2. fate or destiny

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Usage

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?

Etymology

Origin of kismet

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”

Example Sentences

“Like with The Beatles, because it’s those four . . . it’s a kismet getting together of a certain group of people. And I think that’s very much what ‘Rocky Horror’ was.

From Salon • Oct. 22, 2025

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.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 30, 2025

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.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2025

Of all the social media platforms, it holds the greatest promise of kismet.

From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2024

Maybe it was kismet, but they spotted an elderly Iranian man dining with his son and decided to rope them into their kooky divorce plan.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi