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Pronunciation: ser'en-dip'i-te

Definition: A knack for discovery involving a combination of accident and wisdom while pursuing something else; in science, finding one thing while looking for something else, as in Fleming's discovery of penicillin.

[coined by Horace Walpole and relates to The Three Princes of Serendip, fr. alternate spelling of Serendib, ancient name for Sri Lanka]

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