An extraordinary and welcome event that inspires wonder or gratitude.
Reach for it when describing a highly unlikely positive outcome, with or without a religious claim
Finding the child safe after the storm felt like a miracle to the searchers.
| everyday | |
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| warm |
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| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
everyday
Fits when timely help arrives in a desperate situation
Careful Godsend is religious in origin and informal; it usually describes help, not any wonder.
everyday
stroke of luck
Fits when chance explains an unexpectedly favorable outcome
Careful Luck excludes divine interpretation and can trivialize survival or recovery.
warm
astonishing success
Fits when a result greatly exceeds realistic expectation
Careful Success centers achievement and may erase chance, help, or loss.
warm
Fits when a welcome benefit is understood through gratitude or faith
Careful Blessing carries religious meaning and can be uncomfortable outside that framework.
warm
Fits when an extraordinary thing inspires admiration and curiosity
Careful Wonder does not imply an unlikely event or divine action.
professional
Fits when a major advance follows sustained work
Careful Breakthrough credits development, so it misfits an event attributed mainly to chance.
professional
extraordinary event
Fits when neutral language should avoid a supernatural claim
Careful The phrase is factual but loses gratitude and wonder.
formal
near-impossibility
Fits when extreme improbability is the main point
Careful The phrase is analytical and does not express the welcome nature of the outcome.
literary
Suits something astonishing because of its excellence or design
Careful Marvel often credits human or natural qualities rather than improbable rescue.
small miracle
Keeping every seedling alive through the frost was a small miracle.
medical miracle
The family called the unexpected recovery a medical miracle.
nothing short of a miracle
Their safe arrival seemed nothing short of a miracle after the bridge failed.
believe in miracles
The song asks whether tired people can still believe in miracles.
Keep in mind
Miracle can assert divine intervention or work figuratively. Do not impose either interpretation on someone else's survival, illness, or faith.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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