prosperous
Americanadjective
-
having or characterized by financial success or good fortune; flourishing; successful.
a prosperous business.
- Synonyms:
- thriving
-
well-to-do or well-off.
a prosperous family.
-
favorable or propitious.
- Synonyms:
- auspicious, lucky, fortunate
adjective
-
flourishing; prospering
-
rich; affluent; wealthy
-
favourable or promising
Usage
What does prosperous mean? Prosperous means successful, especially in a financial or material way.It can be used to describe people, groups, or institutions like businesses.The word is typically used to describe people who have achieved success in terms of wealth, health, and happiness. But it can also be used broadly, much like the words successful, thriving, and flourishing.Prosperous is based on the verb prosper, which means to be successful. You can say that someone is prospering in the present, but the word is perhaps most commonly used in the context of what will happen in the future. The word prospering can be used as an adjective to mean the same thing as prosperous. The related noun prosperity refers to a state of success.Example: If we can continue to maintain this level of quality, our company will continue to be prosperous.
Other Word Forms
- nonprosperous adjective
- nonprosperously adverb
- nonprosperousness noun
- overprosperous adjective
- overprosperously adverb
- overprosperousness noun
- prosperously adverb
- prosperousness noun
- pseudoprosperous adjective
- pseudoprosperously adverb
- quasi-prosperous adjective
- quasi-prosperously adverb
- superprosperous adjective
- unprosperous adjective
- unprosperously adverb
- unprosperousness noun
Etymology
Origin of prosperous
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin prosperus
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.
Culiacán is a prosperous city, full of shopping malls, neat parks and fancy car dealerships.
From BBC
Indoctrinating the population, especially younger North Koreans, is a bigger challenge due to an influx of illicit foreign media showing a prosperous outside world.
"We want a strong, powerful, industrial, wealthy, prosperous Europe."
From Barron's
A gifted orator, Jackson articulated the frustrations of those who felt like second-class citizens in the world's most prosperous democracy.
From BBC
The inventors and entrepreneurs Mr. Kimmel profiles weren’t descended from the prosperous German Jews who settled in America beginning in the early 19th century.
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.
