serendip-

(Arabic: the gift of finding interesting things by chance; the faculty of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; an apparent talent for making fortunate discoveries accidentally)

pseudoserendipitous (adjective), more pseudoserendipitous, most pseudoserendipitous
Discoveries that are to some degree foreseen, and result from the objective of obtaining the processing of the alternatives: Although the student claimed that his work resulted in accidental discoveries or pseudoserendipitous findings, the results of his research had expected conclusions.
pseudoserendipity (s) (noun), pseudoserendipities (pl)
1. A description of accidental discoveries of ways to achieve an end sought for, in contrast to the meaning of (true) serenpidity, which describes accidental discoveries of things not sought for.

The term was coined by Royston M. Roberts as stated in his book Serendipity, Accidental Discoveries in Science, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1989 (Introduction, pages x-xi).

2. To discover, invent, or create something in a surprising way.
3. The accidental discovery of a way or ways to achieve an end that was sought for.

Pointing to a page about a pseudoserendipity Pseudoserendipity with details about its origin.

serendipitist (s) (noun), serendipitists (pl)
Someone who makes happy and unexpected discoveries unintentionally.
serendipitous (adjective), more serendipitous, most serendipitous
1. A reference to coming upon or finding something by unexpectedly; fortuitous: "There have been many serendipitous discoveries in science."
2. Good; beneficial; favorable: "It was serendipitous weather for the neighbor's trip to Italy."
serendipitously (adverb), more serendipitously, most serendipitously
A reference to the faculty, or occurrence, of making fortunate discoveries without planning or expecting them to happen.
serendipity (s) (noun), serendipities (pl)
1. A talent for achieving desirable results when they are not expected to take place: Mr. Jonas appeared to have a talent for serendipity when he was doing a project in the chemistry lab because he often made surprising discoveries unexpectedly when he was working on something else.

It was pure serendipity that the group found a water well when they were hiking in the desert.

2. An unexpected success in achieving a pleasant, valuable, or useful result: For a moment, Sally's mother thought she had achieved a serendipity because, while she was digging in the garden, a fountain of water suddenly shot up, however unfortunately she had only punctured a buried water pipe.
3. An apparent ability for producing some fortunate consequences: Leonore was boiling peaches and suddenly exclaimed, "I must possess serendipity because I've invented peach jam!"
4. Etymology: Serendip, Serendib, former name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka); from Arabic Sarandib plus English -ity; from the possession of the gift by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip who "were always making discoveries, unexpectedly by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of".
Accidentally making fortunate discoveries.
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Serendipity has become a significant word entry in English vocabulary!

The term made its first American dictionary appearance in Webster's New International Dictionary in 1909 and has often been linked with "an accidental or chance discovery".

It was in the 1930s when Walter Cannon of Harvard Medical School used the word to refer to the phenomenon of accidental discovery in scientific research. Then in 1946, sociologist Robert K. Merton and the historian Elinor Barber in The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science presented the concept of the "serendipity pattern" in empirical research, "of observing an unanticipated, anomalous, and strategic datum, which becomes the occasion for developing a new theory."

—Compiled from information located in
Webster's Word Histories; Merriam-Webster, Inc., Publishers:
Springfield, Massachusetts; 1989; page 419.

"I once read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity?"

—From W.S. Lewis, Warren Hunting Smith, George Lam (editors),
Horace Walpole's Correspondence with Sir Horace Mann;
Yale University Press; 1969.

Serendipity is finding what you want when you don't want it by looking where it wouldn't be if you did want it.

—Evan Esar

A cross reference of other word family units that are related directly, or indirectly, to: "chance, luck, fate": aleato-; auspic-; cad-; fortu-; -mancy; sorc-; temer-; tycho-.