What does fortuitously mean?
"Fortuitously" means happening by chance rather than by plan or intention. It is the adverb of the adjective "fortuitous," which traces back through French to the Latin "fortuitus," derived from "fors," meaning chance or luck. When something occurs fortuitously, it comes about through coincidence: strangers meet fortuitously, documents surface fortuitously, opportunities arise fortuitously. The word carries an interesting ambiguity. In its strict, classical sense it says nothing about whether the outcome is welcome — a fortuitous event may be fortunate or unfortunate. Over time, however, popular usage increasingly attached a positive gloss to the word, treating "fortuitously" as roughly equivalent to "luckily," a drift that usage commentators criticized for much of the twentieth century. Somewhat formal in tone, the word suits descriptive and narrative writing, where it conveys the role of accident and coincidence in human affairs with more precision than the vaguer phrase "by chance."
adverbHappening by chance rather than by design or intention; occurring as a matter of accident or coincidence.
- Occurring by chance or accident, without planning or deliberate cause.
- (Less commonly, and contested) Occurring by happy chance; bringing good luck.
"The two old friends met fortuitously at a café in Lisbon, neither knowing the other was in Portugal."
"Their fortuitous encounter at the airport led to a business partnership neither had sought."
"The manuscript survived only because a clerk had fortuitously filed it in the wrong drawer."
"Fortuitous" once meant nothing more than "by chance" — the popular habit of using it to mean "lucky" so annoyed usage purists that it became one of English's most famously contested words.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fortuitously
"Fortuitously" descends from "fortuitous," which entered English in the early modern period (the adjective is attested from the fifteenth century) via French from the Latin "fortuitus," itself derived from "fors," the Latin word for chance. The same Latin root gives us "fortune," "fortunate," and "misfortune," making these close cousins of the modern adverb. Originally the term denoted anything arising purely by accident, though over the centuries its popular meaning shifted toward implying good luck.
Related word forms
How fortuitously is actually used
The word is somewhat formal and literary in register. Its meaning has drifted historically: classically, "fortuitous" meant merely "happening by chance," with no implication of good luck, and style guides such as those critiquing usage long objected to its use as a synonym for "fortunately." Today many writers do use it loosely to mean "luckily," but careful users reserve it for pure coincidence, neutral as to outcome. It derives from "fortuitous," whose own adverb form it is.
Easily confused with fortuitously
"Fortunately" means happening by good luck, whereas "fortuitously" means happening by chance, whether the outcome is lucky or unlucky.
"Accidentally" typically implies an unintended mistake or mishap, while "fortuitously" simply denotes a random coincidence without implying error.