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GRE vocabulary

fortuitous

adjectiveHigh-frequency wordMore F words

happening by chance, often in a lucky way

Word origin: From Latin fors, chance or luck.

In a sentence

Fortuitous in a sentence

Here are example sentences showing fortuitous in a sentence.

Their meeting was entirely fortuitous, but it changed the course of both careers.

The discovery of penicillin was fortuitous, arising from a contaminated culture that Fleming nearly discarded.

Synonyms
accidentalchanceserendipitous
Antonyms
planneddeliberateintentional
Usage & nuance

Using “fortuitous” well

Strictly, fortuitous means happening by chance, though it is widely used to mean lucky. The GRE rewards the precise sense of accidental, so beware of treating it as a pure synonym for fortunate.

Common questions

Questions about “fortuitous

Fortuitous (adjective) means happening by chance, often in a lucky way
Here is fortuitous used in an example sentence: "Their meeting was entirely fortuitous, but it changed the course of both careers." Another example: "The discovery of penicillin was fortuitous, arising from a contaminated culture that Fleming nearly discarded."
Common synonyms for fortuitous include accidental, chance, serendipitous.
Antonyms of fortuitous include planned, deliberate, intentional.
Clusters with accidental, chance, and serendipitous, opposed by planned, deliberate, and intentional. The trap is fortunate, a near-synonym in casual use; on the GRE the antonyms stressing deliberateness point to the meaning of chance.
Yes. Fortuitous is a high-frequency GRE word, so it is worth prioritising as you build your vocabulary.

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