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John Cusack and I have been friends since childhood, and the fact that we're in so many films together is, no pun intended, serendipitous.
Jeremy Piven

Meaning of "serendipitous" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF SERENDIPITOUS

serendipitous  [ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪtəs] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SERENDIPITOUS

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Serendipitous is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES SERENDIPITOUS MEAN IN ENGLISH?

serendipitous

Serendipity

Serendipity means a "fortuitous happenstance" or "pleasant surprise". It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”. The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, and the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer in 1945. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.

Definition of serendipitous in the English dictionary

The definition of serendipitous in the dictionary is fortunate or lucky, esp unexpectedly so.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SERENDIPITOUS


ancipitous
ænˈsɪpɪtəs
apparatus
ˌæpəˈreɪtəs
coitus
ˈkəʊɪtəs
comitatus
ˌkɒmɪˈteɪtəs
crepitus
ˈkrɛpɪtəs
duplicitous
djuːˈplɪsɪtəs
emeritus
ɪˈmɛrɪtəs
gratuitous
ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs
hiatus
haɪˈeɪtəs
Iapetus
aɪˈæpɪtəs
impetus
ˈɪmpɪtəs
precipitous
prɪˈsɪpɪtəs
situs
ˈsaɪtəs
status
ˈsteɪtəs
stratus
ˈstreɪtəs
strepitous
ˈstrɛpɪtəs
tinnitus
ˈtɪnɪtəs
Titus
ˈtaɪtəs
ubiquitous
juːˈbɪkwɪtəs
Vitus
ˈvaɪtəs

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SERENDIPITOUS

serdab
Serdica
sere
serein
Seremban
serenade
serenader
serenata
serenate
serendipitist
serendipitously
serendipity
serene
serenely
sereneness
serenities
serenity
serf
serfage
serfdom

WORDS THAT END LIKE SERENDIPITOUS

acclivitous
alacritous
calamitous
circuitous
complicitous
compositous
declivitous
fatuitous
felicitous
fortuitous
heteroclitous
infelicitous
iniquitous
momentous
necessitous
oversolicitous
pyritous
solicitous
spiritous
unsolicitous
vomitous

Synonyms and antonyms of serendipitous in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «SERENDIPITOUS»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «serendipitous» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of serendipitous

Translation of «serendipitous» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SERENDIPITOUS

Find out the translation of serendipitous to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of serendipitous from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «serendipitous» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

偶然
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

serendipitous
570 millions of speakers

English

serendipitous
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

आकस्मिक
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

إكتشافي
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

счастливая случайность
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

acidental
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

serendipitous
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

fortuite
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Serendipitous
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

glückliche
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

偶然
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

뜻밖의
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Serendipitous
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

tình cờ
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

தற்செயலான
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

Serendipitous
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

şans eseri
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

serendipitous
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

nieoczekiwana
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

щаслива випадковість
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

serendipitous
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

serendipitous
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

gelukkige
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

slumpartat
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

serendipitous
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of serendipitous

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SERENDIPITOUS»

The term «serendipitous» is regularly used and occupies the 75.826 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
65
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «serendipitous» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of serendipitous
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «serendipitous».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SERENDIPITOUS» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «serendipitous» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «serendipitous» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about serendipitous

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «SERENDIPITOUS»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word serendipitous.
1
Serge Haroche
Most technological advances in our life now come from serendipitous discoveries. That is a contraction of rocket technology and computer technology and atomic clock technology.
2
Vicki Lawrence
I feel like my life has been very serendipitous and really kind of humorous. Everything that's happened to me has been like an, 'Omigod, are you kidding me?'
3
Dustin Moskovitz
The first time I looked at Yammer, I thought I was on Facebook. Work is not a social network, with serendipitous communications and photo collections. Work is about managing tasks and responding to things quickly.
4
Joe Murray
Sometimes a serendipitous reaction occurs when a network asks you if you have any ideas for a series, at a time when your creative flow is working in that direction.
5
Earl Nightingale
A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.
6
Jeremy Piven
John Cusack and I have been friends since childhood, and the fact that we're in so many films together is, no pun intended, serendipitous.
7
Rick Springfield
I'm thankful for serendipitous moments in my life, where things could've gone the other way.
8
Leonard Susskind
It seems hopelessly improbable that any particular rules accidentally led to the miracle of intelligent life. Nevertheless, this is exactly what most physicists have believed: intelligent life is a purely serendipitous consequence of physical principles that have nothing to do with our own existence.
9
Thomas Watson, Jr.
The serendipitous nature of hypertext links is just brilliant for a curious mind. I love it.
10
Lawrence Wright
I like the serendipitous surprises of reality.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SERENDIPITOUS»

Discover the use of serendipitous in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to serendipitous and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Serendipitous and Strategic Innovation: A Systems Approach ...
This work examines the technology innovation process, and displays its critical links with organizational functions.
Shantha Liyanage, 2006
2
A Serendipitous Life
I can guarantee there is never a dull moment in this unique, fascinating story of a passionate, pioneering, peacemaking woman who felt and responded to God's call on her life.
Helen Baily Cochrane, 2012
3
Seeds: One Man's Serendipitous Journey to Find the Trees ...
At once a heartfelt paean to literature and a wise, funny, and uplifting account of one man's reconnection with nature, Seeds celebrates Horan's triumphs and calamities on his quest to link trees with great writers—a delightfully original ...
Richard Horan, 2011
4
Serendipitous Rose
Only now, the 'prickles¿ she learned to rely on as a child are back, warning her that danger is near, and far more deadly than before.Bricklayer and all around handyman, Devin Leising, has found Serendipitous Rose to be his own safe haven.
Sue Thornton, 2001
5
The Serendipitous Trip to Just Right
Chester Randolph. The Serendipitous Trip to Just Right Chester Randolph The Serendipitous Trip to Just Right Chester Randolph Copyright 2009. Front Cover.
Chester Randolph
6
Serendipitous Moments of Female Sensuality
+hough+s. and. carnal. aravinqs. - perhaps seeking previously unexplored erM- ia adventures - Would you rare +0j0in me in my quest? The stories contained in Serendipitous Moments of Female Sensuality are truly fiction or semi-fiction ...
Kaitlynn Maguire, Margaret Tingley, 2009
7
When the Sun Goes Down: A Serendipitous Guide to Planning ...
When the Sun Goes Down: A Serendipitous Guide to Planning Your Own Funeral Author Betty Breuhaus asks you to open your heart and mind to one of life's inescapable sure things as she offers an in-depth guide to planning a personalized ...
Betty Breuhaus, 2007
8
Organization Practice: A Guide to Understanding Human ...
Because of this attention to complexity, Serendipitous Organizations will tend to be smaller in size and structural complexity in order to assure the necessary processing of information from internal and external sources. Funding sources may ...
Mary Katherine O'Connor, F. Ellen Netting, 2009
9
Scientific Discovery: Logic and Tinkering
In each of the above examples the resulting theoretical advance was serendipitous, since the new phenomenon was exposed following an experimental activity guided by an established theory or by an entrenched conception, whereas the ...
Aharon Kantorovich, 1993
10
Serendipitous Outings Near New York City: On Foot in New ...
Thematic walks for a variety of interests located near New York City Serendipitous Outings Near New York City highlights charming places removed from the urban scene that are perfect for enjoying a pleasant day outdoors.
Marina Harrison, 2006

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SERENDIPITOUS»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term serendipitous is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Miley Cyrus: 'My Life Is Insanely Serendipitous at the Moment'
The singer, 22, joined forces with Instagram and Happy Hippie for the #InstaPride portrait series – shot by Cyrus herself – to increase awareness and ... «People Magazine, Jul 15»
2
Doc: Reds' sweep serendipitous?
In baseball, you don't know nothin'. The Reds lose nine in a row and 10 of 11 and schedule three rookie pitchers to start the weekend series against the ... «Cincinnati.com, Jun 15»
3
Holland Township couple celebrates serendipitous Mother's Day birth
Mother's Day began early at Holland Hospital Sunday, May 10, with the 3:28 a.m. birth of Serenity Marie to Dominique Vargas and Carlos Almanza of Holland ... «HollandSentinel.com, May 15»
4
A serendipitous life: Ysaye Barnwell and the healing power of music
Ysaye Barnwell didn't plan to end up in Ferguson. Her vocal workshop was supposed to be held in nearby St. Louis, but it was going to conflict with St. Patrick's ... «Washington Post, May 15»
5
Serendipitous Chance: Resonate Festival Reviewed
Serendipitous Chance: Resonate Festival Reviewed Tristan Bath , April 29th, 2015 11:13. Tristan Bath divulges a plethora of learnings collated while visiting this ... «The Quietus, Apr 15»
6
Serendipitous story of how Facebook reunited this long lost ring with …
FINNS BEACH CLUB, Bali — Roxy Walsh was on a snorkeling off the beach at a popular vacation spot in Bali last week when she spotted something glittering in ... «Q13 FOX, Apr 15»
7
Serendipitous Sale in Rathgar outlet
Next Saturday, February 28th, Serendipity at 70 Rathgar Avenue will become the first high end children's outlet shop in Dublin with up to 70 per cent off previous ... «Irish Times, Feb 15»
8
Hear Dwight Yoakam's Serendipitous 'Second Hand Heart'
Dwight Yoakam's career is coming full circle, both in the business and melodic senses. Second Hand Heart, the country star's new album, out April 14th, marks ... «RollingStone.com, Feb 15»
9
It was no serendipitous Super Bowl for Vegas sports books
Players observe the coin toss before the NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots Sunday, Feb. «Boston Herald, Feb 15»
10
Serendipitous Discovery: Is it Getting Harder? | From the Bell Tower
Steven Bell Few would argue against the value of serendipitous discovery, especially when it happens in the library. Is it possible that the evolution of libraries ... «Library Journal, Dec 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Serendipitous [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/serendipitous>. Apr 2024 ».
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