Fortunate, a.
Etymology: [L. fortunatus, p.p. of fortunare to make fortunate or prosperous, fr. fortuna. See Fortune, n.]
1. Coming by good luck or favorable chance; bringing some good thing not foreseen as certain; presaging happiness; auspicious; as, a fortunate event; a fortunate concurrence of circumstances; a fortunate investment.
2. Receiving same unforeseen or unexpected good, or some good which was not dependent on one's own skill or efforts; favored with good forune; lucky.
Syn. -- Auspicious; lucky; prosperous; successful; favored; happy. -- Fortunate, Successful, Prosperous. A man is fortunate, when he is favored of fortune, and has unusual blessings fall to his lot; successful when he gains what he aims at; prosperous when he succeeds in those things which men commonly desire. One may be fortunate, in some cases, where he is not successful; he may be successful, but, if he has been mistaken in the value of what he has aimed at, he may for that reason fail to be prosperous.
Shades of meaning
A man is successful in any case if he achieves or gains what he seeks; he is known as a successful man if he has achieved or gained worthy objects of endeavor; he is fortunate or lucky if advantages have come to him without or beyond his direct planning or achieving. Lucky is the more common and colloquial, fortunate the more elegant word; fortunate is more naturally applied to the graver matters, as we speak of the fortunate, rather than the lucky, issue of a great battle; lucky more strongly emphasizes the element of chance, as when we speak of a lucky hit, a lucky guess, or of one as "born under a lucky star." Favored is used in a religious sense, implying that one is the object of divine favor. Happy, in this connection, signifies possessed of the means of happiness. One is said to be happy or prosperous whether his prosperity be the result of fortune or of achievement; prospered rather denotes the action of a superintending Providence.