Adjacent Words

Luck definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LUCK, n.
That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting a man's interest or happiness, and which is deemed casual; fortune. Luck respects persons and their proceedings. We never say, in a literal sense, that a plant has the luck to grow in a particular place; or a fossil has the luck to be of a particular form. We say, a person has the good luck to escape from danger; or the ill luck to be ensnared or to suffer loss. He has had good luck, or bad luck in gaming, fishing or hunting. Luck, or what we call chance, accident, fortune, is an event which takes place without being intended or foreseen, or from some cause not under human control; that which cannot be previously known or determined with certainty by human skill or power.
Consider the gift of luck as below the care of a wise man.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you); "whatever my fortune may be"; "deserved a better fate"; "has a happy lot"; "the luck of the Irish"; "a victim of circumstances"; "success that was her portion" [syn: fortune, destiny, fate, luck, lot, circumstances, portion]
2: an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; "bad luck caused his downfall"; "we ran into each other by pure chance" [syn: luck, fortune, chance, hazard]
3: an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome; "it was my good luck to be there"; "they say luck is a lady"; "it was as if fortune guided his hand" [syn: luck, fortune]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc; akin to Middle High German gelücke luck Date: 15th century 1. a. a force that brings good fortune or adversity b. the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual 2. favoring chance; also success <had great luck growing orchids> • luckless adjective II. intransitive verb Date: circa 1584 1. to prosper or succeed especially through chance or good fortune — usually used with out <the hero lucks out and is able to escape> 2. to come upon something desirable by chance — usually used with out, on, onto, or into <lucked into a wonderful opportunity>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 chance regarded as the bringer of good or bad fortune. 2 circumstances of life (beneficial or not) brought by this. 3 good fortune; success due to chance (in luck; out of luck). Phrases and idioms: for luck to bring good fortune. good luck 1 good fortune. 2 an omen of this. hard luck worse fortune than one deserves. no such luck colloq. unfortunately not. try one's luck make a venture. with luck if all goes well. worse luck colloq. unfortunately. Etymology: ME f. LG luk f. MLG geluke

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Luck Luck, n. [Akin to D. luk, geluk, G. gl["u]ck, Icel. lukka, Sw. lycka, Dan. lykke, and perh. to G. locken to entice. Cf. 3d Gleck.] That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune; as, good, bad, ill, or hard luck. Luck is often used for good luck; as, luck is better than skill. If thou dost play with him at any game, Thou art sure to lose; and of that natural luck, He beats thee 'gainst the odds. --Shak. Luck penny, a small sum given back for luck to one who pays money. [Prov. Eng.] To be in luck, to receive some good, or to meet with some success, in an unexpected manner, or as the result of circumstances beyond one's control; to be fortunate.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Luck or good luck is success or good things that happen to you, that do not come from your own abilities or efforts. I knew I needed a bit of luck to win... The Sri Lankans have been having no luck with the weather... The goal, when it came, owed more to good luck than good planning. N-UNCOUNT 2. Bad luck is lack of success or bad things that happen to you, that have not been caused by yourself or other people. I had a lot of bad luck during the first half of this season... Randall's illness was only bad luck. 3. see also hard luck 4. If you ask someone the question 'Any luck?' or 'No luck?', you want to know if they have been successful in something they were trying to do. (INFORMAL) 'Any luck?'—'No.' CONVENTION 5. You can say 'Bad luck', or 'Hard luck', to someone when you want to express sympathy to them. (INFORMAL) Well, hard luck, mate. CONVENTION [formulae] 6. If you describe someone as down on their luck, you mean that they have had bad experiences, often because they do not have enough money. PHRASE: usu v-link PHR 7. If you say 'Good luck' or 'Best of luck' to someone, you are telling them that you hope they will be successful in something they are trying to do. (INFORMAL) He kissed her on the cheek. 'Best of luck!' CONVENTION [formulae] 8. You can say someone is in luck when they are in a situation where they can have what they want or need. You're in luck. The doctor's still in. PHRASE: V inflects 9. If you say that someone is out of luck, you mean that they cannot have something which they can normally have. 'What do you want, Roy? If it's money, you're out of luck.' PHRASE: V inflects 10. If you say that someone is pushing their luck, you think they are taking a bigger risk than is sensible, and may get into trouble. I didn't dare push my luck too far and did not ask them to sign statements. PHRASE: V inflects 11. If someone tries their luck at something, they try to succeed at it, often when it is very difficult or there is little chance of success. She was going to try her luck at the Las Vegas casinos. PHRASE: V inflects 12. pot luck: see pot

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Chance, fortune, hazard, hap, haphazard, fate, accident, casualty. 2. Success, good fortune.

Moby Thesaurus

accident, accidentality, actuarial calculation, adventitiousness, blessing, break, bump, calculated risk, capriciousness, casualness, chance, chances, chanciness, changeableness, destiny, erraticism, erraticness, fate, felicity, fickleness, flier, fluke, flukiness, fortuitousness, fortuity, fortunateness, fortune, fortunes, gamble, good fortune, good luck, hap, happenstance, happy chance, happy fortune, hazard, heedless hap, hesitancy, hesitation, hit, how they fall, incalculability, incertitude, indecision, indecisiveness, indemonstrability, indeterminacy, indeterminateness, indetermination, indeterminism, irresolution, law of averages, light, lot, luckiness, meet, moira, occasion, opportunity, play, plunge, principle of indeterminacy, probability, problematicness, random sample, randomness, risk, run of luck, serendipity, smiles of fortune, speculation, statistical probability, stroke of luck, stumble, suspense, suspensefulness, the breaks, theory of probability, tumble, unaccountability, uncertainness, uncertainty, uncertainty principle, undecidedness, undeterminedness, unforeseeableness, unpredictability, unprovability, unsureness, unverifiability, vacillation, venture, whatever comes, whimsicality