serendipity
/ˌsɛrənˈdɪpɪti/noun
The lucky discovery of something good purely by accident, as if it had been arranged.
Example sentences
- “Finding that tiny bookshop while lost in the city was a moment of serendipity.”
- “By pure serendipity, the scientist discovered the drug while studying something else.”
Coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 from a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, whose heroes kept making lucky finds.