Right on Time

There is no substitute for good timing and luck. These words are about the appropriate moment, being at the right place, or saying the right thing, at the right time. These words describe that feeling when everything clicks together. Whether it's sheer chance or a supernatural force, use these words to describe those times when events are going in your favor and it seems out of your hands. Here are ten words about those variables you can't quite put your finger on, timing and luck.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. opportune
    suitable or advantageous especially for a particular purpose
    Ms Sanghera said that the new programme was urgently needed, and that its timing was opportune.
    —BBC Apr 7, 2014
  2. auspicious
    indicating favorable circumstances and good luck
    What may have been the most auspicious deal of late was not the biggest or the most groundbreaking of mergers. New York Times (Jan 1, 2014)
  3. propitious
    presenting favorable circumstances
    The most propitious times for crossing — mid- to late August — were already booked, so the siblings had to settle for a late-July slot.
    —Washington Post July 14, 2014
  4. felicitous
    exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style
    Scott Hendricks made a felicitous house debut as Sharpless, bringing a warm, generous baritone to the role of the decent but impotent American consul.
    —New York Times Jan 17, 2014
  5. apropos
    of a suitable, fitting, or pertinent nature
    Rush’s title is apropos, as the movie, shot by Danny Boyle’s longtime cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, hurtles forward at a sometimes vertiginous pace.
    —Slate Sep 27, 2013
  6. apposite
    being of striking appropriateness and pertinence
    Eager and apposite collaborators, both are fascinated by language, whether literal or compositional, and concerned with situating music within broader artistic and cultural contexts.
    —New York Times May 12, 2013
  7. germane
    relevant and appropriate
    Whatever your memories of school lunches decades ago may be, they’re not germane today, school nutrition directors say.
    —Washington Post August 19, 2014
  8. fortuitous
    lucky; occurring by happy chance
    But these adaptations alone might not have been enough to save icefishes from extinction—they likely benefited from fortuitous circumstances as well.
    —Scientific American Aug 3, 2012
  9. providential
    peculiarly fortunate or appropriate
    The show radiates an against-the-odds belief in an ineffable ordering principle, a sense that there are providential patterns within chaos.
    —New York Times Jun 30, 2014
  10. serendipitous
    lucky in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries
    Despite their importance to the business, Mr Sharp says getting the various designers to work for them was "fairly random and serendipitous".
    —BBC Aug 12, 2014
Created on Wed Oct 08 23:09:46 EDT 2014 (updated Thu Oct 09 10:51:30 EDT 2014)

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