From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishserendipityser‧en‧dip‧i‧ty /ˌserənˈdɪpəti/ noun [uncountable] literary LUCKYwhen interesting or valuable discoveries are made by accident → luck
Examples from the Corpus
serendipity• To a large extent, luck and serendipity made us the kind of scientists we are, and brought us together.• Call it the ultimate advertising coup or simple serendipity.• Far from portraying the scientists as all-knowing seers, Hafner and Lyon show how their biggest advances came through serendipity.• Our lives had been turned over to serendipity.• What a delightful find - a true serendipity!Origin serendipity (1700-1800) Serendip ancient name of Sri Lanka; because it was an ability possessed by the main characters in the old Persian story The Three Princes of Serendip 