variants or less commonly flukey
flukier; flukiest
1
: happening by or depending on chance
2
: being unsteady or uncertain
used especially of wind

Examples of fluky in a Sentence

a fluky coincidence that kept me safely at home when the blizzard hit the fluky selection of consecutive numbers on consecutive days of the lottery
Recent Examples on the Web One was against Argentina and Lionel Messi at the height of his powers, the other a fluky loss to Canada in the 2000 Gold Cup. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 June 2023 The serious injuries to Altuve and Diaz are random and fluky things that could happen in games. Larry Fleisher, Forbes, 22 Mar. 2023 Barring another fluky playoff outcome, could be another Lombardi Gras in the offing ... *Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-6): QB Tom Brady's arrival has made them the league's unexpected darlings, ones boasting a franchise-record five games in prime time. Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 14 May 2020 Less than a month after getting hurt – on a fluky play that also saw fellow lineman Bryson Cain go down – McCauley represented his school in the Territorial Cup. Michael Lev, azcentral, 6 Mar. 2020 This wasn't a fluky loss, or bad officiating, or a goofy play. Jeff Seidel, Detroit Free Press, 25 Nov. 2019 Even monarchs are vulnerable to awkward, fluky snafus. Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, 8 Mar. 2020 The recent bout of soft numbers (including today's) are fluky, in her view, and not something that's about to disrupt the course of monetary policy. WSJ, 14 June 2017 The Islanders tied the game in the second period on a fluky goal from Brassard, who slipped a shot past Bishop on the near post. Matthew Defranks, Dallas News, 5 Feb. 2020 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fluky.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1867, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of fluky was in 1867

Dictionary Entries Near fluky

Cite this Entry

“Fluky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fluky. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.

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