lucky break
13
3.2
- noun
- /ˈlʌki breɪk/
- Informal
:
golpe de suerte
- After months of job searching, landing an interview with that company felt like a lucky break.
- get a lucky break
- catch a lucky break
- a lot of lucky breaks
And so I got a lucky break, but at least I did something with it.
- And so I got a lucky break, but at least I did something with it.
- You know, I've grown up in football and you sometimes a lucky break is better than working hard.
- So I asked Qilu, because if anyone in many ways had this lucky break, it was him on a Sunday.
- They believe that no one sees their excellence, that they never got a lucky break.
- And, and, you know, you can, you can, you know, if you keep keep trying and keep trying, keep trying, you may, may get those lucky breaks, but it's not guaranteed.
- But one of the lucky breaks was that Reed Hastings company bought a company that I had helped start and that was luck.
Examples
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I thought this golden ticket was my lucky break.
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They start me off at the drive-up window... and I work my way up from shakes to burgers... and then, one day, my lucky break comes.
-
And so I got a lucky break, but at least I did something with it.
-
- Seems like we got a lucky break.
-
Listen, now we actually caught a lucky break.
-
We caught a lucky break.
-
What a lucky break for me.
-
If the player works and trains hard, he is more likely to get a lucky break than if he does not.
Blog text (27) -
I got a lot of lucky breaks, thanks to Lady Laura and others.
Fiction book (1991) -
That's a lucky break for us.
Synonyms
547
1.0
A fortunate event that happens by chance
443
2.7
A sudden chance that leads to success
66
2.5
A lucky event or success that happens by chance
38
3.2
An important chance that helps a person become successful in their career
32
5.1
An unexpected good event that happens by chance
28
4.9
Something very helpful that you did not expect when you needed it
18
3.2
A rare chance to do something important
15
7.9
A happy chance event that brings good results
8
3.9
Good luck that happens by chance, not because you worked for it
8
3.2
A sudden lucky event that brings good results
1
9.5
An extra helpful thing you get, often at work
A lucky unexpected event that brings something good
An unexpected good thing that happens by chance
Very good luck that happens by chance and seems undeserved
Antonyms
How Lucky
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'lucky' (fortunate by chance) modifies 'break' understood here as a 'stroke of luck' or fortunate opportunity, so the overall meaning follows predictably from the constituents. This pattern is common in English and mirrors similar constructions in other languages, so an average B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase lucky break comes from the idea of a sudden break or opening that brings lucky change. Imagine you are stuck and a small opening appears that lets you move forward, so it means 'an unexpected event that brings good luck'.