Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Bringing something good and unforeseen; auspicious.
- adjective Having unexpected good fortune; lucky.
- noun One who has good fortune, especially a wealthy person.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make fortunate; prosper.
- Having good fortune; receiving good from uncertain or unexpected sources; lucky.
- Bringing or presaging good fortune; resulting favorably, as something uncertain; having a happy issue; auspicious; felicitous: as, a fortunate speculation; a fortunate accident.
- Synonyms Felicitous, Lucky, etc. (See
happy .) Fortunate, Successful, Prosperous, favored. Fortunate implies the attainment of success more by the operation of favorable circumstances, or through accident, than by direct effort; successful denotes that effective effort has been made; prosperous has nearly the same meaning as successful, but does not at all emphasize the effort made, and applies rather to a series of things than to a single event. We say a fortunate gambler, a successful merchant, a prosperous line of business. - noun In astrology, a favorable planet. Nares. See extract under fortitude, 3.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Coming by good luck or favorable chance; bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain; presaging happiness; auspicious
- adjective Receiving same unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good which was not dependent on one's own skill or efforts; favored with good forune; lucky.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Coming by good
luck or favorablechance . - adjective Bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain.
- adjective Presaging
happiness . - adjective
Auspicious . - adjective Receiving some unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good which was not dependent on one's own skill or efforts.
- adjective
Lucky , favored byfortune .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective presaging good fortune
- adjective supremely favored
- adjective having unexpected good fortune
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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This was only his sick fancy, for on the third of September, which was the anniversary of the great battle of Worcester, and the day of the year which he called his fortunate day, he died, in the sixtieth year of his age.
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Most of those directed to him by the gentler sex, turned in favour of what they called a fortunate ending.
Clarissa Harlowe 2006
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This was only his sick fancy, for on the third of September, which was the anniversary of the great battle of Worcester, and the day of the year which he called his fortunate day, he died, in the sixtieth year of his age.
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This was only his sick fancy, for on the third of September, which was the anniversary of the great battle of Worcester, and the day of the year which he called his fortunate day, he died, in the sixtieth year of his age.
A Child's History of England Charles Dickens 1841
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"I can't say the word 'fortunate' or 'lucky' or whatever enough," said Haas, who got into the playoff with a two-under-par 68.
News - latimes.com 2011
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Revis grimaced when the word "fortunate" was used in reference to Pool.
NYT > Home Page By DAVE CALDWELL 2011
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"I can't say the word 'fortunate' or 'lucky' or whatever enough," said Haas, who got into the playoff with a two-under-par 68.
News - latimes.com 2011
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I would think "fortunate" is a more appropriate word.
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Whatever the claim, I think even the most modest one, that some of the people he has worked with in business have never compared themselves to the less fortunate is very likely false.
Envy and Resentment, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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We are once again fortunate enough to have Amy Steinberg on hand to rock the house with a family friendly, unschooling loving and absolutely awe inspiring concert.
Look what just got added to the LIFE is Good webpage! Zenmomma 2009
gulyasrobi commented on the word fortunate
Daffynition: Consumption of an expensive meal. (fortune-ate)
June 16, 2012