fortuitous

CEFRC2

/fɔːˈtjuː.ɪ.təs/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Happening by chance, often with a lucky result.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Happening by a lucky chance; lucky or fortunate.

Examples

A fortuitous encounter with Tom Jackson laid the groundwork for my new hobby.
How fortuitous that you were there on the same night!

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Also pronounced

/-ɾəs/
/-tjʉː.ɘ.tɘs/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Happening independently of human will.
Happening by chance; coincidental, accidental.

More examples

In context

[…] and during the ten days of their stay at Hartfield it was not to be expected—she did not herself expect—that any thing beyond occasional, fortuitous assistance could be afforded by her to the lovers.
And then he met John Dowsett, the great John Dowsett. The whole thing was fortuitous. This cannot be doubted.
Was it love, she wondered, or a mere fortuitous combination of happy thoughts and sensations?

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

It was a blank meeting that led to their partnership; they met at a random coffee shop.

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Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

[…] and during the ten days of their stay at Hartfield it was not to be expected—she did not herself expect—that any thing beyond occasional, fortuitous assistance could be afforded by her to the lovers.
1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC
‘It is not for one, situated, through his original errors and a fortuitous combination of unpropitious events, as is the foundered Bark (if he may be allowed to assume so maritime a denomination), who now takes up the pen to address you—it is not, I repeat, for one so circumstanced, to adopt the language of compliment, or of congratulation. That he leaves to abler and to purer hands.
1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC
Was it love, she wondered, or a mere fortuitous combination of happy thoughts and sensations?
1905, Edith Wharton, chapter VI, in The House of Mirth, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC
And then he met John Dowsett, the great John Dowsett. The whole thing was fortuitous. This cannot be doubted.
1910 October, Jack London, chapter I, in Burning Daylight, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, part II, page 128
Admiral Kurita has no identification charts for escort carriers, and, so, assumes that the distant targets are fleet carriers. Commensurately, by scale, their escorts must either be battleships or cruisers. The Japanese forces therefore continue to load armor-piercing rounds, what will turn out to be a very fortuitous mistake for their targets for as long as it lasts.
2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 12:25 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

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Origin

adjective

From Latin fortuītus.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

It was a blank— meeting that led to their partnership; they met at a random coffee shop.

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Origin

adjective

It was a blank meeting that led to their partnership; they met at a random coffee shop.