Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Presenting favorable circumstances; auspicious. See Synonyms at favorable.
- adj. Kindly; gracious.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Favorably disposed; ready to grant a favor or indulgence; kind; disposed to be gracious or merciful; ready to forgive and bestow favors.
- Affording favorable conditions or circumstances; favorable: as, a propitious season.
- Synonyms Gracious, benign.
- Auspicious, Propitious, promising. Auspicious cannot be safely used in any meaning beyond that of giving omen or indication of success; an auspicious event is one that seems an omen of prosperity for that which follows. Auspicious could be applied to a person only by a highly figurative use of the word. The earlier tendency to use the word outside of the limits here indicated is not now sanctioned by good usage. Propitious applies primarily to persons, but may be freely extended by figure to things. Propitious goes beyond auspicious in representing a benign disposition and manner, leading one to expect a kind reception and help.
Wiktionary
- adj. Favorable; benevolent (e.g. propitious weather)
- adj. archaic Favorably disposed towards someone.
- adj. Advantageous.
- adj. Characteristic of a good omen: auspicious.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Convenient; auspicious; favorable; kind.
- adj. Hence, kind; gracious; merciful; helpful; -- said of a person or a divinity.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. presenting favorable circumstances; likely to result in or show signs of success
Etymologies
- From French propicius, from Latin propitius ("favorable, well-disposed, kind") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English propicius, from Old French propicieux, from Latin propitius; see pet- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The fates were again propitious for a brief period; but again a trivial incident interfered.”
“Pagondas refers to propitious victims of sacrifice before battle, 4.92.7”
“Today, however, the outlook can hardly be called propitious for the formation of a national consensus anywhere in the industrial world, and the chances for an equitable international sharing of wealth seem hopeless.”
“Fabulous diction, excellent vocabulary, I'm inspired to add "propitious" and "persiflage" into my daily rhetoric.”
“The cover or lid of the ark is termed in the LXX. hilasterion, that which covered or shut out the claims and demands of the law against the sins of God's people, whereby he became "propitious" to them.”
“I will be merciful -- Greek, "propitious"; the Hebrew, "salach," is always used of God only in relation to men. and their iniquities -- not found in Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and one oldest Greek manuscript; but most oldest manuscripts have the words”
“But the talks underway now could also allow Washington to generate a climate "propitious" for help on other issues where it needs Moscow's support, such as Iran and North Korea's controversial nuclear programmes, said Goldblat who is based at the Geneva International Peace Research institute.”
“Noting that it is primarily the responsibility of the Government and its national partners to create the "propitious" conditions for the elections, he commends political leaders for adopting an electoral code that enjoys wide consensus and is encouraged by President Pierre Nkurunziza's assurance that the polls will be free, fair and peaceful.”
“The virtue of Christ’s sacrifice is to pacify justice and make God propitious, that is, favourable and merciful to sinners.”
“propitious" because it could help governments and NGOs to identify hindrances to achieving the UN's Millennium Development goals.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘propitious’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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501
Classic
irk, teem, blight, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado and 401 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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Filter 1
Hard words level 1
besotted, altricial, consecrate, consternate, desuetude, detractor, dissolute, divisive, emaciated, enamored, ensconce, garishly and 76 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1907 more...
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That's nice.
nice, kind, agreeable, good-natured, pleasing, kind-hearted, sweet, simnel, gracious, percaline, manzanilla, kincob and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for propitious.
justBear Used on 20 MAR 11 Mar 21, 2011
Wordplayer I hate this word...at the California State Spelling Bee...I missed this word by ONE LETTER...I could have had a $250 dollar savings bond. Ugh. Dec 12, 2010