Synonyms 1. advantageous, successful, prosperous. Fortunate, happy, lucky refer to persons who enjoy, or events that produce, good fortune. Fortunate implies that the success is obtained by the operation of favorable circumstances more than by direct effort; it is usually applied to grave or large matters (especially those happening in the ordinary course of things): fortunate in one's choice of a wife; a fortunate investment.Happy emphasizes a pleasant ending or something that happens at just the right moment: By a happy accident I received the package on time.Lucky a more colloquial word, is applied to situations that turn out well by chance: lucky at cards; my lucky day.
late 14c., L. fortunatus, from fortunare, from fortuna (see fortune). Related: Fortunately. Fortunate Islands "mythical abode of the blessed dead, in the Western Ocean," early 15c., translates L. Fortunatae Insulae.