Idiom
luck of the draw
Meaning
The random production or occurrence of favorable or unfavorable results.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Winning this game is just the luck of the draw.”
“Getting a nice boss is often just the luck of the draw.”
“The weather during your vacation is usually the luck of the draw.”
“You cannot choose your seat on the plane, so it is just the luck of the draw.”
“I ended up with a very noisy hotel room, but that is just the luck of the draw when you book a cheap deal.”
“We did not get to pick our partners for the project, so our final grade depends on the luck of the draw.”
“You might get a friendly interviewer or a strict one, as the schedule is purely the luck of the draw.”
“Whether one is born into wealth or poverty remains, in many respects, merely the luck of the draw.”
Examples
simple
“Winning this game is just the luck of the draw.”
“Getting a nice boss is often just the luck of the draw.”
“The weather during your vacation is usually the luck of the draw.”
contextual
“You cannot choose your seat on the plane, so it is just the luck of the draw.”
“I ended up with a very noisy hotel room, but that is just the luck of the draw when you book a cheap deal.”
“We did not get to pick our partners for the project, so our final grade depends on the luck of the draw.”
“You might get a friendly interviewer or a strict one, as the schedule is purely the luck of the draw.”
complex
“Whether one is born into wealth or poverty remains, in many respects, merely the luck of the draw.”
Origin
Derived from games of chance in which objects such as playing cards, straws, or marbles are distributed or withdrawn at random from a container. The idiom alludes to the lack of agency involved when receiving a hand from a card deck or a marble from a bag, where the outcome is determined entirely by the draw.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated