prosperity
Americannoun
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prosperities
plural
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a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.
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prosperities, prosperous circumstances, characterized by financial success or good fortune.
noun
Usage
What does prosperity mean? Prosperity is success or the state of success, especially financial or material success. Prosperity often implies success in terms of wealth, health, and happiness. But it can also be used more broadly. The verb prosper means to achieve prosperity. Someone who achieves prosperity can be described as prosperous. The word prosperity is often paired with words like peace and wealth, such as when wishing people well, as in May your year be full of peace and prosperity. Example: You can achieve prosperity through dedication and hard work.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of prosperity
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English prosperite, from Old French, from Latin prosperitās; see prosperous, -ity
Explanation
Use prosperity to refer to the state of being successful. In the US, the decades following World War II were characterized by rising prosperity, with large numbers moving into the middle class. Prosperity usually means the type of success that comes from having a lot of money. Our modern English word derives from Middle English prosperite, borrowed through Old French from Latin prosperus "favorable." The Latin word also means "fortunate," and the word prosperity does have an element of good luck.
Vocabulary lists containing prosperity
100 Top "SAT" Words
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Animal Farm
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Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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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.
See Examples For:
US officials said the envoys would discuss "security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war prosperity plan, and other aspects of the conflict."
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
"For years we've fought for this station because we know the difference it will make to residents, businesses and the future prosperity of the area," he added.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
It has also rejected comparisons to the prosperity gospel, the Christian theological movement that connects faith with material or financial rewards.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
An American is supposed to have life, liberty, prosperity, and happiness.
From "Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago" by LeAlan Jones
Studying the composition and other prosperities the inner three planets could also improve understanding how unusual ultra-low density super puff planets formed, the researchers said.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2024
Drawing on the inheritance of an almost folkloric wisdom, Garcia is unafraid of suggesting that passion is "a frail interlude between the prosperities of loss."
From Time Magazine Archive
There you go, brothers, in your gilt carriages and prosperities, better or worse, and make an extreme bother and confusion, the devil very largely in it….
From Historical Essays by James Ford Rhodes
That was the view into which the comforts and prosperities of his middle age had brought him from a radicalism that had in its earlier stages been angry and bitter.
From Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
That exultation is only to be checked by the foresight of an order of things so excellent as to throw all our prosperities into the deepest shade.
From Essays — Second Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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.
