fortunate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fortunatus.

Morphologically fortune +‎ -ate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, /ˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nɪt/
• (General American, weak-vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nət/, /ˈfɔɹt͡ʃ.nət/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: for‧tu‧nate

Adjective

fortunate (comparative more fortunate, superlative most fortunate)

1. Auspicious.

   It is a fortunate sign if the sun shines on a newly wedded couple.

   • 1854, Edward Stanley, A Familiar History of Birds : Their Nature, Habits and Instincts‎^[1], page 144:

     if it sits still, with its breast towards them, till they have passed, they consider it as a fortunate sign, and everything is expected to go on well during the remainder of their journey

2. Happening by good luck or favorable chance.

   Patrick was the unlikely match-winner as Berkeley earned a fortunate victory over Chisolm.

   • 2011, George G. Szpiro, Pricing the Future: Finance, Physics, and the 300-year Journey to the Black-Scholes Equation‎^[2]:

     How many lucky winners, Regnault lamented, boastfully ascribe their success to wise decisions while in reality their triumph was nothing more than the fortunate outcome of random events?

   • 2018 July 11, “How Nina Weiner turns dreams into a reality”, in The Jerusalem Post:

     Weiner acknowledges that a stroke of good luck has helped steer her to a more fortunate path early on in life.

3. Favored by fortune.

   We were fortunate not to be fined for speeding.

   This is a time when we think of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Synonyms

• (auspicious): rosy; see also Thesaurus:auspicious
• (happening by favorable chance): lucky; see also Thesaurus:lucky
• (favored by fortune): privileged, successful; see also Thesaurus:prosperous

Antonyms

• unlucky
• unfortunate

Derived terms

• unfortunately
• fortunately

Translations

coming by good luck or favorable chance

• American Sign Language: Open8@Chin-PalmBack Open8@NearSideChinhigh-PalmForward
• Bulgarian: късметли́йски (kǎsmetlíjski)
• Catalan: afortunat (ca)
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• German: glücklich (de)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍆𐍄𐍃 (audahafts)
• Ido: fortunoza (io)
• Irish: sonasach
• Manx: traaoil
• Maori: momoho, angitu
• Persian: خجسته‎ (fa) (xojaste)
• Polish: fortunny (pl)
• Portuguese: propício (pt)
• Russian: уда́чный (ru) (udáčnyj)
• Spanish: afortunado (es)
• Urdu: خوش قسمت‎ (xuš qismat)

bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain

• Bulgarian: щастли́в (bg) (štastlív)
• Catalan: propici
• German: günstig (de), verheißungsvoll (de)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) (tycherós)
• Ido: hazarda (io), hazardala (io)
• Portuguese: propício (pt)
• Russian: счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj), уда́чный (ru) (udáčnyj)
• Spanish: propicio (es), favorable (es)

presaging happiness

auspicious

• Bulgarian: благоприя́тен (bg) (blagoprijáten)
• Catalan: favorable (ca), propici
• Finnish: lupaava (fi), suotuisa (fi)
• German: verheißungsvoll (de)
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰆𐱃𐰞𐰆𐰍‎ (qutluɣ)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوتلو‎ (qutlu)
• Russian: благоприя́тный (ru) (blagoprijátnyj)
• Turkish: kutlu (tr)

receiving some unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good, independent of one's own skill or efforts

• Bulgarian: уда́чен (bg) (udáčen)
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) m (tycherós)
• Russian: уда́чливый (ru) (udáčlivyj), счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj)

lucky, favored by fortune

• American Sign Language: Open8@Chin-PalmBack Open8@NearSideChinhigh-PalmForward
• Bulgarian: късметли́йски (kǎsmetlíjski)
• Catalan: afortunat (ca)
• Danish: heldig
• Finnish: onnekas (fi)
• German: glücklich (de)
• Greek: τυχερός (el) m (tycherós)

  Ancient: ἐυτυχής (eutukhḗs)

• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰃𐱃𐰞𐰆𐰍‎ (qutluɣ)
• Ottoman Turkish: قوتلو‎ (qutlu)
• Portuguese: afortunado (pt), sortudo (pt), feliz (pt)
• Russian: уда́чливый (ru) (udáčlivyj), счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: fortanach
• Spanish: afortunado (es)
• Swedish: lycklig (sv)
• Tocharian B: skwassu

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} ádhúil
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} heldig (no)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} afortunada (es)

See also

• unluckily
• luckily

References

• “fortunate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• fortunate at OneLook Dictionary Search

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “fortunate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Italian

Adjective

fortunate

1. feminine plural of fortunato

Latin

Etymology

From fortūnātus (“fortunate, prosperous”).

Adverb

fortūnātē (comparative fortūnātius, superlative fortūnātissimē)

1. prosperously, fortunately

Related terms

• fortūnātus
• fortūnō

References

• “fortunate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fortunate”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fortunate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, 1st edition. (Oxford University Press)