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Prosperity

n. hopeful, capable register not recorded

What it means

A condition of sustained success, security, and sufficient resources.

Reach for it when naming material or communal flourishing while making clear who benefits

The cooperative spread prosperity by sharing tools, training, and ownership.

Words to choose between 9

By register, from playful at the top to literary at the bottom. Tap a word to see when it fits.
everyday
warm
professional
formal
literary

  • everyday

    success

    Fits when a goal or enterprise achieves desired results

    Careful Success can be brief, narrow, or privately held.

  • warm

    flourishing

    Fits when healthy development across several dimensions is central

    Careful Flourishing is broader and may not include material prosperity.

  • warm

    good fortune

    Fits when favorable circumstances contribute to success

    Careful Fortune emphasizes luck and can erase sustained work or structural advantage.

  • warm

    wellbeing

    Fits when quality of life matters beyond money

    Careful Wellbeing can be high even where material resources are limited.

  • professional

    economic security

    Fits when stable material needs are the key measure

    Careful Security is more modest and does not imply growth or abundance.

  • professional

    shared abundance

    Fits when distribution across a community is the central claim

    Careful The constructed phrase needs evidence that resources are both sufficient and shared.

  • professional

    wealth

    Fits when accumulated financial or material assets are meant

    Careful Wealth can coexist with social instability and concentrated deprivation.

  • formal

    affluence

    Fits when abundant wealth is the exact condition

    Careful Affluence may be unequal and says nothing about security or social flourishing.

  • literary

    plenty

    Fits when abundance of resources shapes the image

    Careful Plenty may be seasonal or wasteful and does not prove shared security.

Opposites 4

  • poverty
  • hardship
  • decline
  • destitution

Common phrases 4

  • shared prosperity

    Shared prosperity requires measuring who gains from new investment.

  • economic prosperity

    Economic prosperity improved access to heating but increased land pressure.

  • period of prosperity

    The port entered a period of prosperity after the rail link opened.

  • widespread prosperity

    Widespread prosperity requires gains that reach renters as well as landowners.

Usage notes

Keep in mind

Prosperity is incomplete without a named scope and beneficiary. Aggregate wealth can rise while many people become less secure.

Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated