stumbled upon
Found by accident
To stumble upon something is to discover it by accident, without searching for it: I stumbled upon an old photo album in the attic, She stumbled upon the solution while working on a different problem.
The phrase suggests a fortunate or interesting find rather than mere chance—you stumble upon treasures, not trash.
- encounteredCame upon or faced
- chance encounterUnintended crossing of paths
- accidentalOccurring by chance
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- fortuitousHappening by lucky chance
serendipitous · unforeseen · surprise · pleasant surprise · inadvertent · noticing · finding · spotting · coming across · unearthed · adventuring · unplanned · exploring · lucky · pure luck · lucky break · roaming · providential
method of discovery
stumbled uponresearched
Sought knowledge systematically
investigated · studied · dug up · left no stone unturned · deduced
stumble, stumbled, stumbles, stumbling, stumbler, stumblers, upon