noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The chance or random quality of an event or circumstance. uncountable

   "by happenstance"

2. 2
   an event that might have been arranged although it was really accidental wordnet
3. 3
   A chance or random event or circumstance. countable

   "Our meeting today was a happenstance, but I'm glad we crossed paths."

Synonyms

All synonyms

coincidencecoincidenceaccessoryaccidentaccidentaccidental

Example

More examples

"Were they destined to meet, or was it just happenstance?"

Etymology

Blend of happening + circumstance. Attested from 1855 in US publications.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.