providential
Americanadjective
-
of, relating to, or resulting from divine providence.
providential care.
-
opportune, fortunate, or lucky.
a providential event.
- Synonyms:
- happy
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonprovidential adjective
- nonprovidentially adverb
- providentially adverb
- unprovidential adjective
- unprovidentially adverb
Etymology
Origin of providential
1640–50; < Latin prōvidenti ( a ) providence + -al 1
Explanation
If your best friend pulls up beside you in her convertible just as your bike gets a flat tire, you could call it providential, or magically lucky. The Latin root of providential is providentia, "foresight or precaution." Providence changed over the years; it usually referred specifically to the care of God, and it was spelled with a capital P. Providential, likewise, has another meaning that's purely religious, "resulting from God's intervention." Whether you're talking about God or not, if something is providential, it feels a little miraculous.
Vocabulary lists containing providential
30 GRE Words Beginning with "P"
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Twilight
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GRE Verbal Reasoning, List 2
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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.
Nearly 60 years after Babilonia and Gardner skated together for the first time, the decision to pair them seems inspired, even providential.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026
Efraín, meanwhile, welcomes her as a sort of providential poet of the underclass, and wants her to read at the opening of a poetry festival.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026
“Over the last few days, many people have said it was a providential moment.”
From BBC • Jul. 19, 2024
Everything else, he seemed to suggest, will follow, almost automatically, from that providential arrival.
From Slate • Jul. 19, 2024
Despite the confident and providential statements of leaders like Paine, Jefferson, and Adams, the conclusions that look so foregone to us had yet to congeal for them.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
