fortuitous

comparative more fortuitous · superlative most fortuitous

1. Happening by fortune or chance; accidental, coincidental.

   [D]uring 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, page 192

   5 more examples

   [I]f vve be not perverſe and vvillful, vve are to inferre that it [the tilt of the Earth's axis] vvas eſtabliſhed by a Principle that has in it Knovvledge and Counſell, not from a blind fortuitous jumbling of the parts of the Matter one againſt another, eſpecially having found before in ourſelves a knovving Spiritual Subſtance that is alſo able to move and alter the Matter.

   1653, Henry More, “The Universall Matter of the World be It Homogeneall or Heterogeneall, Self Mov’d or Resting of It Self, that It can Never be Contriv’d into that Order It is without the Super-intendency of God”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book II, page 50

   [T]his concourſe of Atoms they being left vvithout a guide, it is a miracle above all apprehenſion, that they ſhould produce no inept Species of things, ſuch as ſhould of their ovvn nature have but three Leggs, and one Eye, […] But to elude the force of this Argument againſt the fortuitous concourſe of Atoms they'll excogitate this mad evaſion; That Nature did indeed at firſt bring forth ſuch ill-favoured and ill-appointed Monſters, as vvell as thoſe that are of a more exquiſite frame; but thoſe that vvere more perfect fell upon thoſe other and kill'd them, and devoured them, […]

   1653, Henry More, “That whether the Species of Things have been from All Eternity, or whether They Rose out of the Earth by Degrees in Time, the Frame of Them is such, that against All the Evasions of the Atheist They Naturally Imply that there is a God”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book III, page 156

   Nothing less than Infinite Wisdom can have an absolute command over fortune; the highest degree of it which man can possess, is by no means equal to fortuitous events, and to such contingencies as may arise in the prosecution of our affairs.

   1712 February 15 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, February 5, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 293; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 462

   [T]his interview was marked with circumstances in some degree more formally complaisant than those which attended your meeting with him in our worthy publisher's; for yours had the appearance of a fortuitous recontre, whereas mine was preceded by the communication of a large roll of papers, containing a new history, called Peveril of the Peak.

   1822, [Walter Scott], “Prefatory Letter, from the Reverend Doctor Driasdust of York, to Captain Clutterbuck, Residing at Fairy-Lodge, near Kennaquhair, N.B.”, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, pages ii–iii

   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, page 497

   Synonyms: by accident, accidental, accidentary, adventitious, by accident, by the by, casual, causeless · Antonyms: nonfortuitous, unfortuitous

   1. Happening by good fortune or success; fortunate, lucky.

      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

      2 more examples

      Admiral [Takeo] 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 [pseudonym], “The Battle of Samar – Odds? What are Those?” (12:25 from the start), in YouTube, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022

      England were ragged at this point but the response was full of conviction, equalising swiftly then taking control before the tiring Danes and the magnificent [Kasper] Schmeichel were finally overcome with [Harry] Kane's fortuitous winner.

      2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Euro 2020 Semi-final: England 2 – 1 Denmark: Harry Kane Hits Winner as Three Lions Reach Final”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2025

      Synonyms: by accident, accidental, accidentary, adventitious, by accident, by the by, casual, causeless · Antonyms: nonfortuitous, unfortuitous

2. lawHappening independently of human control; uncontrollable.

   Synonyms: irresistible