serendipitous
Americanadjective
-
come upon or found by accident; fortuitous.
serendipitous scientific discoveries.
-
serendipitous weather for our vacation.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of serendipitous
First recorded in 1940–45; serendipit(y) + -ous
Explanation
Serendipitous is an adjective that describes accidentally being in the right place at the right time, like bumping into a good friend in some unusual location, or finding a hundred dollar bill on the ground. The root of serendipitous comes from the fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," in which three princes make one lucky and surprising discovery after another. A serendipitous moment happens by accident, usually when you’re doing something completely unrelated, like digging a hole in your yard to bury your hamster and finding a treasure chest of jewels. That’s a sad but serendipitous funeral.
Vocabulary lists containing serendipitous
This Week in Words: July 14 - 20, 2018
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Hidden Figures
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Right on Time
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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.
In another space, this would have felt like a wild coincidence, but at Kiko, these serendipitous moments begin to feel almost expected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"It was kind of serendipitous that this was even happening," she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Come to think of it, thoughts are perhaps not unlike a murmuration of starlings, flitting and swooping and morphing with seemingly serendipitous activation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
"This is a great example of a serendipitous discovery, something we didn't expect to find but that will give us a new window into understanding planet-star relationships," Bouma concluded.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 27, 2026
It was serendipitous when writer Thomas Keneally walked into the luggage store that the Pages owned in Beverly Hills and became fascinated by the story Mr. Page told him.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
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.
