FORTUITOUS (Latin, "by chance") differs from FORTUNATE (Latin, - TopicsExpress



          

FORTUITOUS (Latin, "by chance") differs from FORTUNATE (Latin, "fortune"). Fortunate always assumes a positive outcome, while fortuitous is simply a chance result, either positive or negative. It is the contemporary informal use of fortuitous - that something good happens because of chance - that has led to the frequent joining of fortuitous and fortunate as synonyms. Imagine that a ball bounces oddly, resulting in a loss for one team (unfortunate!) and a win for the other (fortunate!). The bounce itself was fortuitous, but the result was fortunate for only one side.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 22:06:52 +0000

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