kismet
nounUK, US /ˈkɪz.mɛt/
Etymology From Ottoman Turkish قسمت (kısmet, “fate, destiny”) (Turkish kısmet), from Arabic قِسْمَة (qisma, “division, lot, destiny”).
1
Usually Fate; a predetermined or unavoidable destiny.
- But these things are kismet, and we only find out all about them just when any knowledge is too late.1887, Rudyard Kipling, Bitters Neat:
- "Golly!" he cried. "I'm awfully sorry, Bo'sun, but you're It. You're luck's clean out to-day. What rotten Kismet you do have. The Lot fell on you all right, smack in the middle of your chest."1917, Percival Christopher Wren, “The Rafters”, in The Young Stagers:
2 more examples
- But at this point fickle Kismet, who for a day had played with him bitterly and sardonically, decided to reward him in full for the amusement he had afforded her. Kismet turned the tawny eyes of the snake-charmer to the camel. Kismet led her to lean toward the man beside her and say, "Who's that? That camel?"1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, chapter III, in The Camel's Back:
- Sexualised Catholicism, at the dawn of MTV, was Madonna’s first stroke of kismet.2019 June 8, Kitty Empire, “Madonna: Madame X review – a splendidly bizarre return to form”, in The Guardian: