Meaning & use
serendipity
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The good luck of finding something useful or pleasant when you were not searching for it.
Grammar: Uncountable; do not usually say a serendipity. It implies a happy, unplanned discovery.
Patterns
- by pure serendipity
- serendipity led to something
- a moment of serendipity
By pure serendipity, she found the missing letter inside an old cookbook.
Scientific serendipity sometimes rewards careful observers.
Meeting my future mentor at the bus stop was pure serendipity.
Common combinations
- pure serendipity
- Their meeting at the airport was pure serendipity.
- by serendipity
- By serendipity, the wrong train led to the right city.
- scientific serendipity
- Scientific serendipity favored the patient researcher.
- moment of serendipity
- A moment of serendipity changed her career.
Synonyms and how they differ
- luck
- General good or bad fortune; serendipity is specifically happy and unplanned.
- chance
- Any unplanned possibility; it can be neutral and need not bring benefit.
- happy accident
- Informal and close in meaning; serendipity is more polished.
- providence
- Suggests a higher plan or divine care; serendipity is secular and accidental.
Opposites
Word family
- serendipitous adjective
- Happening by happy accident.
- serendipitously adverb
- By a lucky unplanned discovery.
Commonly confused: serendipity or coincidence? serendipity or serenity?
serendipity vs coincidence
A coincidence is any surprising timing; serendipity is pleasant and useful.
serendipity vs serenity
Serenity means calmness; serendipity is lucky discovery despite a similar sound.
Practice
Which sentence best matches serendipity?
Choose one answer.
Finding a needed rare stamp by chance is a happy unplanned discovery. The others involve planning, loss, or deliberate conflict.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “serendipity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.