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flukey

flukey

1 8.7
Happens by luck, not by skill
  • adjective
  • /ˈfluːki/
  • Informal
: fortuito
  • It's flukey.

Examples

  • Even the national soccer team, after a 10-year absence from a major tournament, was scored upon with a flukey header less than three minutes into its Euro 2012 competition and left the tournament at the bottom of its group without a victory.

    Blog text (22)
  • Finding a $20 bill on the ground was a flukey stroke of luck for her.

  • "A real flukey kind of thing."

    Fiction book (1996)
  • It was nothing more than a flukey goal.

    Blog text (32)
  • That goal, shot off the glass before rebounding in front of Rawlings, might have been flukey, but the five that followed were not, bringing the Friars to a 6-2 win over the Huskies.

    Blog text (31)
  • The team won the game with a flukey goal that surprised everyone.

  • His success in the contest was flukey, as he had never even practiced before.

Synonyms

random
vsflukey
644 3.4

Happening without a plan and by chance

emphasizes luck as the reason rather than merely lacking a method
iffy
vsflukey
  • Informal
25 8.1

Not certain or reliable

focuses more on outcomes caused by luck rather than general doubt
hit-or-miss
vsflukey
  • Informal
7 6.9

Sometimes works well and sometimes fails depending on luck

stresses that results come from luck rather than skill or design
chancy
vsflukey
4 6.9

Not certain and likely to be risky

points more to luck as the cause rather than risk or danger
fluky
vsflukey
  • Informal
1 8.1

Happening by luck rather than by planning

means the same but is an alternative form or spelling

Antonyms

137 4.1

Done on purpose after careful thought

109 3.9

Done on purpose and not by accident

How Intentional

planned
503 1.0
flukey
  • Informal
1 8.7
accidental
128 3.0
random
644 3.4

Surface Forms

flukey positive

Morphology

flukey = fluke (transparent) = fluke + y

The adjective is directly formed from the noun 'fluke' with the productive adjectival suffix '-y' (spelled here as 'flukey'), so the meaning is predictable from 'fluke'.

Etymology

Flukey comes from the word fluke, which means an unexpected bit of 'good luck'. A helpful way to remember it is that it sounds like 'lucky', so something flukey happens by 'chance' rather than by skill.