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Meet the Word
🔊 for-TOO-ih-tus · adjective
Ever had something happen completely out of the blue — no plan, no effort — that just so happens to work out in your favor? That's fortuitous. At its root, it simply means "happening by chance," full stop. But these days, most people reach for it specifically when the chance event turns out lucky: the parking spot that opens up the second you arrive, the flight delay that means you don't miss your connection after all. It's chance, wearing a really good outfit.
Here's the twist dictionaries have been quietly fighting about for decades: this word technically has nothing to do with luck. See it used in the wild, and the one detail almost everyone gets wrong.
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