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:
It challenges the idea that prosperity requires us to concentrate decision-making powers in the hands of the few.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
Research on financial well-being suggests for young Americans today, securing a sense of prosperity and independence requires reaching this six-figure milestone earlier in life, as time is so valuable in investing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
No one has done more than the two of them to work towards peace and prosperity in the region.”
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
New Zealand supported a growing "multi-lattice" of arrangements in defence and trade emerging between countries in the region, he said, adding: "That's how we drive prosperity through security."
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
And every harvest, Celia cut the sugarcane that El Li'der promised would bring prosperity.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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
As he whirled on into Suburbia, he fell to considering relative prosperities.
From Cinderella in the South Twenty-Five South African Tales by Cripps, Arthur Shearly
Among the high civilisations he seems to be very comfortably situated indeed, and to have more than his proportionate share of the prosperities going.
From The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories by Twain, Mark
But here we are only discussing a physical good and evil, and one must compare in detail the prosperities and the adversities of this life.
From Theodicy Essays on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil by Huggard, E.M.
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.
