providential
- adjective
- /ˌprɒvɪˈdɛnʃəl/
- His providential timing allowed him to witness the historic event unfold.
- providential event
- providential care
But what came from this was what we tend to call a providential sense of history.
- But what came from this was what we tend to call a providential sense of history.
- So it's A and it's and it's kind of a, it sounds like sort of a providential moment, too.
- But we are part of the providential order and we have a unique role in it.
- This America, this thing, this experiment, it was new and it was special and it was providential.
- He had to learn each hexameter as he added it, and this imposed upon him a providential strictness, right?
Examples
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The rain came at a providential moment, saving the crops from drought.
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It was providential that she found the lost ring just before the wedding ceremony.
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In watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment.
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But we are part of the providential order and we have a unique role in it.
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But it's providential that you... who are also another kind of victim, should come here.
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But what came from this was what we tend to call a providential sense of history.
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He was a providential man who came along just when our nation and the world most needed him.
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The move to the Carmelite seminary proved providential in many ways.
Academic text (1994) -
Your arrival is providential.
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People at the I.I.U. believed in a benevolent, providential God who had called them into a covenant of stewardship.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
Very surprising and lucky in a way people cannot explain
Seeming to come from God or a higher power
Very lucky and coming at just the right time
Antonyms
How Providential
Surface Forms
Morphology
providential = providence (transparent) = providence + ial
The adjective is a regular derivation from the noun 'providence' with the suffix '-ial', so its meaning ('timely, as if by divine care') is directly related to 'providence'.
Etymology
Providential comes from the same root as provide and providence, which meant 'to see ahead' and 'to care for'. So something providential seems to happen at a lucky, just-right time, as if helped by a higher power or by fate.