Felicitously Definition & Meaning

Choose the Right Synonym for felicitous

fit, suitable, meet, proper, appropriate, fitting, apt, happy, felicitous mean right with respect to some end, need, use, or circumstance. fit stresses adaptability and sometimes special readiness for use or action. fit for battle suitable implies an answering to requirements or demands. clothes suitable for camping meet suggests a just proportioning. meet payment proper suggests a suitability through essential nature or accordance with custom. proper acknowledgement appropriate implies eminent or distinctive fitness. an appropriate gift fitting implies harmony of mood or tone. a fitting end apt connotes a fitness marked by nicety and discrimination. apt quotations happy suggests what is effectively or successfully appropriate. a happy choice of words felicitous suggests an aptness that is opportune, telling, or graceful. a felicitous phrase

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The adjective felicitous has been a part of our language since the late 18th century, but felicity, the noun meaning "great happiness," and later, "aptness," was around even in Middle English (as felicite, a borrowing from Anglo-French). Both words ultimately derive from the Latin adjective felix, meaning "fruitful" or "happy." The connection between happy and felicitous continues today in that both words can mean "notably fitting, effective, or well adapted." Happy typically suggests what is effectively or successfully appropriate (as in "a happy choice of words"), and felicitous often implies an aptness that is opportune, telling, or graceful (as in "a felicitous phrase").

Examples of felicitous in a Sentence

a felicitous combination of flavors a felicitous accompaniment to dinner is provided by a harpist on weekends at the restaurant

Recent Examples on the Web Notable dancers such as Ms. Mearns, Ms. Peck, Mr. Gordon and Mira Nadon are scheduled to make their debuts in this felicitous choreographic suite. — Robert Greskovic, WSJ, 16 May 2022 Willie Fulgear, the salvage man who found the 52, got a reward, much felicitous publicity, and a limo and tickets to attend the Oscars, where Billy Crystal saluted him from the stage. — Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2022 For Amy Zurek, naming her brand ‘Savette’ after her mother’s maiden name was a felicitous decision. — Monica Mendal, Vogue, 24 Nov. 2021 Its felicitous mix of precise, classical ballet moves and more playfully inventive ones rewardingly holds the interest of its cast of four men and four women, and along its way engages the viewer. — Robert Greskovic, WSJ, 18 May 2021 The prose is wonderfully sober and taut, the choices felicitous. — James Romm, WSJ, 26 Apr. 2021 The effect, according to the article, was felicitous. — Emily Langer, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2021 His prose is prose, definitively prose, anti-felicitous and slightly barbarous. — James Parker, The Atlantic, 13 Mar. 2021 The felicitous playing, by members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, of the second movement from Ravel’s String Quartet in F major filled out the program, sparking only the faintest wish that this, too, had been used for a piece of choreography. — Robert Greskovic, WSJ, 13 Mar. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'felicitous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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