| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| fortuitous, fortunate (adjs.), fortuitously, fortunately (advs.) |
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| Fortuitous means “by chance, accidental,” but it is more often used to mean “by favorable chance,” “by lucky accident,” and so “fortunate”: It was certainly fortuitous that I found you in that crowd. Fortunate means “having good luck” or “favorable”: Whoever wins that jackpot will be fortunate indeed. We’ll be operating in fortunate circumstances, I believe. The adverbs also speak of luck and chance. Fortunately means only “by good fortune, luckily, by happy chance”: Fortunately we both were paying attention. Fortuitously, however, still means “by chance of whatever sort,” although it can also mean “by happy chance, by good luck”: We met fortuitously at the races could be ambiguous; only context can indicate whether the chance involved was favorable or unfavorable or neither lucky nor unlucky. | 1 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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