lucky
1 Americanadjective
-
luckier,
comparative
-
luckiest
superlative
-
having or marked by good luck; fortunate.
That was my lucky day.
- Synonyms:
- blessed
- Antonyms:
- unfortunate
-
happening fortunately.
a lucky accident.
-
bringing or foretelling good luck, or supposed to do so.
a lucky penny.
- Synonyms:
- favorable, propitious, auspicious
noun
-
luckies
plural
-
a familiar name applied to an elderly woman, especially a grandmother; granny.
-
a familiar name applied to a woman, as one's wife or a barmaid.
adjective
-
having or bringing good fortune
-
happening by chance, esp as desired
Usage
What are other ways to say lucky? Someone or something that is lucky has or is marked by good luck. How is lucky different from happy or fortunate? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of lucky1
First recorded in 1495–1505; luck + -y 1
Origin of lucky2
Explanation
When you're lucky, things work out well for you — you experience good fortune. If you're feeling lucky, it might be a good day to buy a lottery ticket or guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. Lucky people seem to have everything going for them, and your lucky charm (like a rabbit's foot or a four-leaf clover) seems to bring that kind of success in your direction. Some lucky things are happy coincidences: "How lucky that I ran into you this morning!" When you're envious of someone else's big break, you can say, "You lucky devil." Lucky and luck come from the Middle Dutch gheluc, "good fortune."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“He’s a phenomenal DP — he might just go be a camera person or something if he wants to do it. So we were lucky to get him.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
Others are recommending renting your house if you’re lucky enough to have a 2% or 3% mortgage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Imelda, a farmer in Labian, goes into the forest daily with friends to record bird sounds and, if they are lucky, orangutans.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
All Gellar said was, “It has been a tough two years for our beloved cast and crew, and we feel very lucky to have known and worked with such amazing people.”
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
“The American embassy, oh my. How lucky you are, Lizzie.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
Even the beloveds, wonderfuls, luckies and so on were all Dones, and the awfuls were Not-Dooes.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Electrical engineer Luca Linhsen is one of the luckier ones -- she took up a job as a software consultant in Hamburg this month.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
Kang survived, which made him luckier than others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
As McDermott said, “You control how hard you work, and the harder you work, the luckier you’re going to get.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 18, 2026
"But the most important thing is that all of us are safe. We are luckier than many other families."
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
Paul Van Riper’s Red Team did not come out on top in that moment in the Gulf because they were smarter or luckier at that moment than their counterparts over at Blue Team.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
And the deli guy every Saturday morning would hand me a free slice of American cheese and I was like the luckiest kid in the world.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2026
“Palantir and Nvidia are the two luckiest companies on the planet,” he told Lewis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash, which killed 241 people on board, has said he feels like the "luckiest man" alive, but is also suffering physically and mentally.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025
A list of the luckiest lotto stores in California would not be complete without a mention of Joe’s Service Center, known for producing the biggest Powerball win of all time, worth $2.04 billion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2025
Most days she felt like the luckiest person in the world, in love with her husband and blessed with three daughters she adored.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
