Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Fate; fortune.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Lot; destiny; fate: an Oriental term denoting man's lot in life or any detail or incident of it.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Oriental Destiny; fate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Fate; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Islam) the will of Allah

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Turkish, from Persian qismat, from Arabic qisma, lot, from qasama, to divide, allot; see qsm in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Turkish kısmet, from Arabic قِسْمَة (qismä).

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Examples

  • Whoever came up with the term kismet is an absolute moron.

    Leox 2010

  • That evening, the feeling returned -- what I called kismet yesterday.

    Smorgasbord Douglas Hoffman 2005

  • That evening, the feeling returned -- what I called kismet yesterday.

    Archive 2005-06-01 Douglas Hoffman 2005

  • Thaddeus, the only thing messing with your kismet is your denial of what you truly want.

    Sin in Soul's Kitchen Andrew Oye 2009

  • Ever since I read The Magic Mountain, sanitariums not rehabs! have had a romantic draw for me, and, too, it was appealing, after all, to have a firm destination, to not rely entirely on kismet, which isn't always so reliable, this being one of the drawbacks of kismet.

    Wake Up, Sir! Jonathan Ames 2004

  • Yet because you are so wayward I will help you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own course -- which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing that your fate is continually in your own hands -- more so at this moment than ever before.

    Mr. Isaacs 1881

  • The stars, or the fates or Kâli, or whatever you like to term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in

    Mr. Isaacs 1881

  • We should hang out, clink our highball glasses, and salute the kind of kismet that competent women often need to create real achievement.

    Ann Handley: Sarah and Me: Junior High with Sarah Palin 2010

  • We should hang out, clink our highball glasses, and salute the kind of kismet that competent women often need to create real achievement.

    Sarah and Me: Junior High with Sarah Palin 2010

  • We should hang out, clink our highball glasses, and salute the kind of kismet that competent women often need to create real achievement.

    Ann Handley: Sarah and Me: Junior High with Sarah Palin Ann Handley 2010

Comments

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  • kismet (kizmet, kizmat, kizmit) turkish from Arabic qismah portion, lot noun fate, fortune, destiny: "It’s predestined on the face of it. Yes, tell him it’s Kismet. Kismet, mallum? (Fate! Do you understand?)" (Rudyard Kipling, Kim, 1901).

    December 18, 2006

  • Kismet

    February 14, 2007

  • I like ka better. Something about this word rubs me the wrong way, but I have no idea what it is.

    May 9, 2007

  • What really strikes me as odd is that so many pizzerias are called "Kismet"... "The last pizza you'll ever eat!"

    July 1, 2009

  • "Kismet, it means fate" Sydney Rae White, Young Dracula Season 3

    January 8, 2016

  • fate, fortune (Turkish)

    (Islam) the will of Allah

    August 23, 2021