Synonyms of propitious

propitious

adjective

prə-ˈpi-shəs 

1

as in promising

having qualities which inspire hope

the success of the first big movie in May was a propitious start for the summer season of blockbusters

Synonyms & Similar Words

• promising
• bright
• optimistic
• auspicious
• hopeful
• likely
• encouraging
• rosy
• golden
• favorable
• upbeat
• fair
• heartening
• positive
• good
• roseate
• reassuring
• rose-colored
• doubtless
• decisive
• comforting
• soothing
• confident
• sure
• assured
• cheering
• bullish
• unhesitating
• beamish
• eupeptic

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unlikely
• dark
• desperate
• inauspicious
• gloomy
• dismal
• unpromising
• hopeless
• discouraging
• pessimistic
• bleak
• dreary
• depressing
• unpropitious
• uncertain
• disheartening
• doubtful
• cheerless
• unfavorable
• dubious
• negative
• comfortless
• downbeat
• grim
• unencouraging
• gray
• miserable
• bearish
• wretched
• glum
• funereal

2

as in favorable

pointing toward a happy outcome

a propitious time for starting a business

Synonyms & Similar Words

• promising
• favorable
• encouraging
• bright
• hopeful
• happy
• auspicious
• golden
• lucky
• fortunate
• beneficial
• heartening
• advantageous
• fortuitous
• profitable
• providential
• prosperous
• salutary

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unfavorable
• unpropitious
• inauspicious
• unpromising
• discouraging
• dim
• hopeless
• unfortunate
• disheartening
• unhappy
• unlucky
• fatal
• disastrous
• catastrophic
• calamitous
• ruinous
• futureless
• dark
• ill
• ominous
• gloomy
• sinister
• portentous
• dire
• threatening
• direful
• baleful
• menacing
• foreboding
• minatory
• ill-boding
• doomy

Synonym Chooser

How is the word propitious different from other adjectives like it?

The words auspicious and favorable are common synonyms of propitious. While all three words mean "pointing toward a happy outcome," propitious may also apply to beginnings but often implies a continuing favorable condition.

a propitious time for starting a business

In what contexts can auspicious take the place of propitious?

In some situations, the words auspicious and propitious are roughly equivalent. However, auspicious applies to something taken as a sign or omen promising success before or at the start of an event.

an auspicious beginning

Where would favorable be a reasonable alternative to propitious?

The synonyms favorable and propitious are sometimes interchangeable, but favorable implies that the persons involved are approving or helpful or that the circumstances are advantageous.

favorable weather conditions

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of propitious

Interloom’s timing may be propitious. — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2026

The book has recently been reissued at what feels like a propitious moment, when modern treatments of Greek myth proliferate, many of them adapting stories about destiny and order for a chaotic and individualistic time. — Rachel Vorona Cote, The Atlantic, 5 Jan. 2026

Southwest, which continues to cement its position as California’s largest volume air carrier, has acknowledged the timing is especially propitious for San Diego, which recently debuted the first phase of its new, much larger Terminal 1. — Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Dec. 2025

Canal supporters identified the break in the Appalachian Mountains at the junction of the Mohawk River and the Hudson as a propitious place to dig a channel to Lake Erie. — Christine Keiner, The Conversation, 15 Oct. 2025

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!