fortuitous

English

Etymology

From Latin fortuītus.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /fɔːˈtjuː.ɪ.təs/, /fɔːˈt͡ʃuː.ɪ.təs/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /foɹˈt͡ʃu.ɪ.ɾɪs/, /foɹˈtu.ɪ.ɾɪs/, /-.ə.-/, /-ɾəs/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /foːˈt͡ʃʉː.ɘ.tɘs/, /fɘˈt͡ʃʉː.ɘ.tɘs/, /-tjʉː.ɘ.tɘs/

Adjective

fortuitous (comparative more fortuitous, superlative most fortuitous)

Happening by chance; coincidental, accidental.
Happening by a lucky chance; lucky or fortunate.
- 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎, archived from the original on 3 November 2022, retrieved 5 November 2022, 12:25 from the start:
  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.
- 2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “England 2-1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport‎:
  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 Schmeichel were finally overcome with Kane's fortuitous winner.
(law) Happening independently of human will.

Synonyms

(happening by chance): by accident, causeless, incidental; see also Thesaurus:accidental
(happening by lucky chance): happy, providential; see also Thesaurus:lucky

Derived terms

fortuitously
fortuitousness

Translations

happening by chance, not necessarily a lucky one

Bulgarian: случаен (bg) (slučaen)
Catalan: fortuït (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 偶然 (zh) (ǒurán)
Czech: náhodný (cs) m
Dutch: toevallig (nl)
Esperanto: hazarda
Finnish: sattumanvarainen (fi), satunnainen (fi)
French: fortuit (fr) m, fortuite (fr) f
Georgian: შემთხვევითი (šemtxveviti)
German: zufällig (de), unvorhersehbar (de)
Hungarian: váratlan (hu), véletlen (hu)
Ido: hazarda (io)
Italian: fortuito (it) m
Latin: fortuītus
Portuguese: fortuito (pt)
Romanian: fortuit (ro), accidental (ro), întâmplător (ro)
Russian: неожи́данный (ru) (neožídannyj)
Spanish: fortuito (es)
Swedish: tillfällig (sv), slumpartad (sv)
Turkish: kazara (tr), rastlantısal (tr), tesadüfî

happening by a lucky chance

Bulgarian: по щастлива случайност (po štastliva slučajnost)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 幸運 (zh), 幸运 (zh) (xìngyùn)
Finnish: onnekas (fi)
Georgian: შემთხვევითი (šemtxveviti)
German: glücklich (de), glücklicherweise (de); durch (einen) glücklichen Zufall
Hungarian: szerencsés (hu)
Ido: hazardala (io), hazarda (io)
Portuguese: afortunado (pt)
Russian: случа́йный (ru) (slučájnyj)
Turkish: şans eseri olarak

law: happening independently of human will

Bulgarian: неволен (bg) (nevolen)
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: tahaton (fi), satunnainen (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} secara kebetulan, ^{(please verify)} secara tak disengaja
Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 偶然 (ja) (ぐうぜん, gūzen)