kismet

noun

kis·met ˈkiz-ˌmet

-mət

variants or Kismet

Synonyms of kismet next

: a hypothetical force or personified power that determines the course of the future events : fate, destiny

… we left much of the trip planning to kismet and synchronicity, grateful for a chance to lose ourselves in the magic generated by anomalies, towering redwoods and sea air.—

Tanya Ward Goodman

They didn't know it right away, but when Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt met at a New York theater retreat in the late '90s, it was kismet.—

Elaina Patton

[Richard] Wiseman [psychologist and luck researcher] has found that luck is not so much kismet but the result of a set of behaviors that you can choose to practice.—

Jessica Glazer

The next day I met the Dalai Lama again after meeting him in Sydney two weeks earlier (I think it's Kismet).—

Ruby Wax

: an inevitable and often bad outcome, condition, or end that a particular person or thing will experience : fate sense 2a

If it was her kismet to die this year, there was no point in defying fate.—

Amir Taheri

"This is my Kismet," they say if they lose a relative to war or illness, or if a job or a fortune falls into their laps.—

Christopher Torchia

Did you know?

Kismet Has Arabic Roots

Is it your fate to tie macramé while drinking coffee and eating sherbet in a minaret? That would be an unusual destiny, but if it turns out to be your kismet, you will owe much to Turkish and Arabic. We borrowed kismet from Turkish in the 1800s, but it ultimately comes from the Arabic word qisma, meaning "portion" or "lot." Several other terms in our bizarre opening question (namely, macramé, coffee, sherbet, and minaret) have roots in those languages too. In the case of macramé and minaret, there is a little French influence as well. Coffee and macramé also have Italian relations, and sherbet has an ancestor in a Persian name for a type of cold drink.

Examples of kismet in a Sentence

he always said that it was kismet that they met at a showing of their favorite movie

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

So that was kind of fun to meet him and know that we were born in the same exact town and there was an instant kismet from that, just personally. —

Shania Russell, EW.com, 17 Oct. 2024 The fact that his career prospects led him to Chicago at this particular time feels kismet. —

Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 15 Oct. 2024 But to have this film and the relaunch of Superman coincide with one another is kismet. —

Christian Holub, EW.com, 11 Oct. 2024 And fellow fashion funder Jane Wade chatted with Rob about a kismet coincidence between the two—Wade helped make Robb's 2022 wedding dress while working at Daniel Frankel. —

Conçetta Ciarlo, Vogue, 10 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for kismet