kismet

noun

kis·​met ˈkiz-ˌmet  -mət 

variants or Kismet

1

: a hypothetical force or personified power that determines the course of the future events : fate, destiny

… we left much of the trip planning to kismet and synchronicity, grateful for a chance to lose ourselves in the magic generated by anomalies, towering redwoods and sea air.

—Tanya Ward Goodman

They didn't know it right away, but when Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt met at a New York theater retreat in the late '90s, it was kismet.

—Elaina Patton

[Richard] Wiseman [psychologist and luck researcher] has found that luck is not so much kismet but the result of a set of behaviors that you can choose to practice.

—Jessica Glazer

The next day I met the Dalai Lama again after meeting him in Sydney two weeks earlier (I think it's Kismet).

—Ruby Wax

2

: an inevitable and often bad outcome, condition, or end that a particular person or thing will experience : fate sense 2a

If it was her kismet to die this year, there was no point in defying fate.

—Amir Taheri

"This is my Kismet," they say if they lose a relative to war or illness, or if a job or a fortune falls into their laps.

—Christopher Torchia

Did you know?

Kismet Has Arabic Roots

Is it your fate to tie macramé while drinking coffee and eating sherbet in a minaret? That would be an unusual destiny, but if it turns out to be your kismet, you will owe much to Turkish and Arabic. We borrowed kismet from Turkish in the 1800s, but it ultimately comes from the Arabic word qisma, meaning "portion" or "lot." Several other terms in our bizarre opening question (namely, macramé, coffee, sherbet, and minaret) have roots in those languages too. In the case of macramé and minaret, there is a little French influence as well. Coffee and macramé also have Italian relations, and sherbet has an ancestor in a Persian name for a type of cold drink.

Synonyms

• destiny
• fate

Examples of kismet in a Sentence

he always said that it was kismet that they met at a showing of their favorite movie

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, these kismet moments happened when creative worlds collided while out and about, most likely in New York’s social scene. —Roxanne Robinson, Forbes.com, 31 May 2025

Florida caught a break 51 seconds into the second period when an apparent goal by Aho was negated (kismet?) by offside after a Panthers timeout and a smart coach’s challenge by Maurice. —Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 23 May 2025

Community and the art of neighborliness exist in the unexpected connections, laughs, kismet moments, juicy bites of homemade Brussels sprouts, sweet sips of mocktails, and hugs of welcome and see you laters. —Essence, 20 May 2025

Head to Wimberley Glassworks As Tim de Jong recounts, discovering Wimberley was just one of life’s many kismet moments. —Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 29 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Turkish, from Arabic qisma portion, lot

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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