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providential

providential

5 8.1
Happens at the right time and looks like a lucky help
  • adjective
  • /ˌprɒvɪˈdɛnʃəl/
translation icon : providencial
  • 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.

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Examples

  • The rain came at a providential moment, saving the crops from drought.

  • It was providential that she found the lost ring just before the wedding ceremony.

  • In watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment.

  • But we are part of the providential order and we have a unique role in it.

  • But it's providential that you... who are also another kind of victim, should come here.

  • But what came from this was what we tend to call a providential sense of history.

  • He was a providential man who came along just when our nation and the world most needed him.

  • The move to the Carmelite seminary proved providential in many ways.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Your arrival is providential.

  • 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

miraculous
vsprovidential
95 4.3

Very surprising and lucky in a way people cannot explain

emphasizes lucky or timely occurrence rather than sheer extraordinariness
divine
vsprovidential
23 6.5

Seeming to come from God or a higher power

is the adjective often used to stress lucky timing
heaven-sent
vsprovidential
3 6.8

Very lucky and coming at just the right time

is about happening at a fortunate time rather than sheer wonder

Antonyms

19 6.1

Likely to have very bad luck and end badly

5 3.0

A person who has bad luck or a hard life

How Providential

miraculous
95 4.3
providential
5 8.1
lucky
1.0
coincidental
32 4.8

Surface Forms

providential positive
providentialer comparative
providentialest superlative

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.