From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhappenstancehap‧pen‧stance /ˈhæpənstæns/ noun [countable, uncountable] literary LUCKYchance, or something that happens by chance
Examples from the Corpus
happenstance• We go to any lengths to avoid such a happenstance in baseball.• And they both landed by happenstance rather than design in the Motor City.• No, happenstance will never make for beauty.• In deep antiquity, vast, sprawling empires rose and fell, usually the result of happenstance rather than deliberation.• Through either grace or happenstance, the architecture of the 140-year-old building embodies the spirit of the contemporary parish.• In this happenstance, faithful friend Lobo, these white ladies would pay anything for milk.• They have, through happenstance, and the nature of urban life that crunches lives and experiences together, simply become entangled.• Dunning and Sasbach, two inconspicuous villages which happenstance has made part of my experience.Origin happenstance (1800-1900) happen + circumstance 