fortuitous

Definition

Happening by chance; coincidental, accidental.

Etymology

From Latin fortuītus.

Example Sentences

• "[…] and during 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."
• "‘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."
• "Was it love, she wondered, or a mere fortuitous combination of happy thoughts and sensations?"