one of those things
noun phrase
informal
—used to refer to a bad or unfortunate experience that happened and to say that such experiences can happen to anyone
I missed the train and had to take a later one. It was just one of those things, I guess.
Examples of one of those things in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Because the Padres are one of those things.
—
Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 May 2026
Benchmarking is one of those things that sounds simple on paper but is incredibly easy to mess up.
—Emad Rahim, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
At least one of those things is about to change.
—Esfandiar Baraheni, New York Times, 24 May 2026
Any change at all, the nuance is – this is one of those things where the experts parse these things down to the tense of the verb and so on.
—CBS News, 17 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for one of those things
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Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 May 2026
Benchmarking is one of those things that sounds simple on paper but is incredibly easy to mess up.
—Emad Rahim, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
At least one of those things is about to change.
—Esfandiar Baraheni, New York Times, 24 May 2026
Any change at all, the nuance is – this is one of those things where the experts parse these things down to the tense of the verb and so on.
—CBS News, 17 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for one of those things
Cite this Entry
“One of those things.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one%20of%20those%20things. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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