felicitous
- Well-chosen and apt, or pleasingly suited to the occasion; expressing something in a pleasingly appropriate way.
- Marked by happiness or good fortune.
In a sentence
- The speechwriter's felicitous choice of words perfectly captured the mood of the memorial ceremony.
- It was a felicitous coincidence that both old friends arrived at the conference on the same day.
Usage note. When 'felicitous' describes language or phrasing, it implies not just correctness but an elegant rightness; do not confuse it with 'felicitious', which is not a word.
Where it comes from
English felicitous · entered English late 18th c.
From Latin 'felix' (stem 'felic-'), meaning happy, fortunate, or fruitful. The English adjective was formed in the late 18th century on the model of 'felicity', which had entered English earlier from Old French 'félicité'.