Do you know the meaning of serendipity? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on this word, including its definition!
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Kevin
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February 2, 2022
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The word serendipity is a noun that means good fortune, luck, or having an aptitude to make happy discoveries or fortunate discoveries by accident. This expressive word refers to beneficial developments and evokes pleasant feelings.
Different suffixes like -tous, -ty, and -er can be added to the end of the word serendipity to form other parts of speech such as adverbs and adjectives.
What Are Translations of the Word Serendipity?
Serendipity is a word that has translations in many different languages. Studying how a word is written or said in other languages can often clue us into the roots of the word. This can aid us in better understanding the meaning of the word.
Learning translations of words like serendipity is also useful if you are learning a foreign language, planning to travel to a foreign country, or need to communicate with someone who does not speak English. This list of translations of serendipity is provided by Word Sense:
- Japanese: 偶察力 (gūsatsuryoku), セレンディピティ (serendipiti)
- French: sérendipité, aubaine, heureux hazard, chance, coup de pot
- Greek: τυχαιότητα
- Swedish: serendipitet (common)
- Italian: scoperta, serendipità
- Portuguese: serendipidade, serendipitia, serendipismo
- Armenian: սերենդիպություն, երջանիկ պատահականություն
- Finnish: onnekas sattuma
- Mandarin: 巧事 (qiǎoshì), 機緣湊巧, 机缘凑巧 (jīyuán còuqiǎo), 機緣, 机缘 (jīyuán), 机缘巧合
- Romanian: serendipitate
- Russian: везу́честь
- Spanish: serendipia, serendipidad, serendipicia
- Dutch: serendipiteit, toevalstreffer
- Ido: serendipo
- German: unerwartete Entdeckung, überraschende Erfahrung, überraschendes Erlebnis (neut.), freudige Überraschung, Zufallstreffer, Serendipität
What Is the Etymology of Serendipity?
According to Dictionary, the word serendipity comes from the Persian fairytale The Three Princes of Serendip by politician Horace Walpole. In this story, the heroes possess this gift of blessed occurances.
This interesting story uses the word serendip in its title, a variant of seredib and the Persian sarandīp per Your Dictionary. These come from the Arabic Sarandīb, Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ, siṃhalaḥ, dvīpaḥ, and dhivevi.
How Can the Word Serendipity Be Used in a Sentence?
Serendipity is a fantastic word to use to spice up sentences. This noun is the perfect addition to many sentences you might use in everyday life. Learning how to use a word in a sentence is just as useful as knowing its definition because knowing how to use a word means you can use your knowledge in everyday life.
Take a look at these below example sentences for serendipity, and see if you can come up with your own:
The heroes of a fairy tale had great serendipity on their quest. The combination of events led to a wonderful outcome and a happy ending.
It was serendipity that the microbiologist Jared Leadbetter ended up next to his first professor’s booth at the convention hall. Each of the exhibitors was given a random booth, but he was grateful for the chance to catch up with the woman on the faculty who gave him his first job.
Serendipitously, the student took the last empty desk for the exam, and there was already a pencil on it, which he had forgotten.
In a serendipitous development of events, the barber who thought he would be able to get away from work for a week ended up on vacation at the same resort as his colleague.
The English writer of the silly fairy tale, William Boyd, often had serendipitous encounters with his readers.
The post-it note has serendipitous roots: the inventor tried to create a strong glue but ended up with a weak adhesive instead.
The notifications that the candy was filled with bacteria when looked at in a petri dish under a microscope were serendipitous, and prevented them from entering Merton’s stomach.
What Are Synonyms of the Word Serendipity?
Learning synonyms is a great way to avoid repeating the same word and keep your writing and speech interesting. If you find yourself overusing the word serendipity, turning to a list of synonyms like the one below from Power Thesaurus is a great place to start:
- accident
- big break
- big win
- blessing
- break
- casual discovery
- chance
- chance discovery
- chances
- coincidence
- coincidences
- destiny
- detection
- fate
- fates
- fluke
- fortuitousness
- fortuity
- fortune
- good fortune
- good luck
- happenstance
- happy accident
- happy chance
- happy coincidence
- indeterminateness
- invention
- karma
- kismet
- lot
- luck
- lucky break
- opportunity
- positive outcome
- providence
- recognition
- run of luck
- stars
- stroke of luck
- success
- trove
- twist of fate
- uncertainty principle
- windfall
What Are Antonyms of the Word Serendipity?
Learning antonyms, or opposite words, is a very quick way to grow your vocabulary and knowledge of the English language. By studying this list from Power Thesaurus, you’re sure to grow your vocabulary exponentially:
- accident
- accident-prone
- adversity
- affliction
- aim
- arrangement
- bad
- bad break
- bad fortune
- bad luck
- bad trot
- be bad luck on somebody
- be down on luck
- be out of luck
- between a rock and a hard place
- black cycle
- bloody cycle
- botched situation
- brown touch
- calamity
- disaster
- distress
- fail
- failure
- grief
- hard lines
- hard luck
- ill luck
- ill success
- luckless
- mischance
- mischief
- misfortune
- mishap
- Murphy’s Law
- not be your day
- purpose
- rotten luck
- rub of the green
- setback
- tragedy
- trouble
- unhappiness
- zemblanity
Conclusion
Overall, the word serendipity refers to a positive stroke of luck or a fortunate discovery. Try using it in a sentence today!
Sources:
- Serendipity synonyms – 161 Words and Phrases for Serendipity | Power Thesaurus
- serendipity: meaning, origin, translation | WordSense Dictionary
- Serendipity antonyms – 160 Opposites of Serendipity | Power Thesaurus
- Serendipity Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
- Serendipity Meaning | Best 9 Definitions of Serendipity | Your Dictionary
