miracle

Etymology

From Middle English miracle, from Old French miracle, from Latin mīrāculum (“object of wonder”), from mīror (“to wonder at”), from mīrus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyh₂- (“to smile, to be astonished”). Doublet of milagro. Partially displaced native wonder, from Old English wundor (“miracle, wonder”).

noun

1. An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin.
   Many religious beliefs are based on miracles.
   An example of a miracle associated with Muhammad is the splitting of the moon.
   That’s fantastic! And he’s right, it is a miracle! E-Except when you think about it, it’s actually not, it’s science, which I’d argue is actually better and more convenient than a miracle because you don’t have to spend the next 2000 years worshipping the scientists, you can just be like, “thanks!” Jul 1 2018, “Gene Editing”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 5, episode 18, John Oliver (actor), via HBO
2. A fortunate outcome that prevails despite overwhelming odds against it.
   Secondly, it was a miracle that a document hammered out with such difficulty, satisfying very few of its authors completely and satisfying some of them very little, would turn out to be the most successful political invention in history. November 25 1966, “A Great Document Made by Wisdom and Luck”, in Life, volume 61, number 22, page 13
   It was a miracle that I survived that ditching in the high waves because I had my seat belt and shoulder harness unbuckled in anticipation of bailing out. 1993, Hatch N. Gardner, Frank H. Winter, P-51 Mustang, Turner Publishing Company, page 78
   Seen in this light it was a miracle of economic history that Europe was able to undertake so much higher a proportion of its expansion overseas, and secure a massive injection of resources and big markets without a commensurate growth in her numbers. 2003, Eric Lionel Jones, The European miracle: environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia, Cambridge University Press, page 218
3. An awesome and exceptional example of something
   The home of our kings, over which you tread as you pace the immense hall known as the Salle des Pas-Perdus, was a miracle of architecture. 1847, Honoré de Balzac, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life, page 323
   It was a miracle of engineering that made possible, with the cheap electricity the dam generated, another kind of miracle: the bizarre, superilluminated city of Las Vegas, Nevada. 2008, Joseph R. Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History, Cengage Learning, page 670

verb

1. (transitive) To affect by a miracle; to work a miracle upon.
   When a patient declares that he has been "miracled," the other pilgrims are apt to rush to him (or her) and ask details; this is not permitted; the miracled invalid is borne or carted away to the Bureau of Medical Certification […] 1925, The Medical Critic and Guide, volume 25, page 103
   Deleuze and Guattari are right in miracling fleas into the bestiary, but it is already rich enough to do without them. 1998, Gary Genosko, Undisciplined Theory, page 117
   They think I've miracled the dogs, as the Eucharist miracled my mother. That I, Bonne, am pulsing with holy spirit. 2001, Susann Cokal, Mirabilis, page 33