serendipitous

/ˌser.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.təs/

adjective

  1. Happening by chance in a fortunate or unexpectedly pleasant way; describing a happy accident.

    C1
    • "Their meeting at the airport was completely serendipitous."B1
    • "The discovery of penicillin was a serendipitous event that changed medicine forever."B2
    • "She stumbled upon the manuscript during what she calls a serendipitous afternoon in the archives."C1

Common mistakes

  • It was a serendipitous coincidence.→It was a serendipitous encounter.

    'Serendipitous' already implies a happy chance, so pairing it with 'coincidence' is redundant. Use 'serendipitous' on its own with a noun like encounter, meeting, or discovery.

Collocations

serendipitous discoveryserendipitous meetingserendipitous encounter

Word family

serendipityserendipitouslyserendipitousness