Meaning & use
beginner's luck
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Success that a newcomer seems to enjoy at first, thought to come from chance rather than skill.
Grammar: Uncountable, no article: it was beginner's luck, not a beginner's luck.
Patterns
- put something down to beginner's luck
- call it beginner's luck
I won my first poker hand, but it was only beginner's luck.
Her first-ever bowling strike was beginner's luck, she insisted.
Some say my perfect score was beginner's luck.
Common combinations
- pure beginner's luck
- Winning on my first try was pure beginner's luck.
- put it down to beginner's luck
- He put his big catch down to beginner's luck.
- call it beginner's luck
- Call it beginner's luck, but I beat the champion.
- just beginner's luck
- Don't expect it again; that was just beginner's luck.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fluke
- A fluke is any lucky accident, not only one by a novice, so it does not hint at inexperience.
- luck of the draw
- Luck of the draw refers to random outcomes in general, whereas beginner's luck suggests newness.
- good fortune
- Good fortune is a formal, neutral phrase with no suggestion of inexperience.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: beginner's luck or beginners' luck?
beginner's luck vs beginners' luck
Many people shift the apostrophe, but the usual form is beginner's luck, as one beginner is imagined.
Practice
Tom hit the target on his first shot at archery. His friends joked that it was ______.
Choose one answer.
Beginner's luck means an early success from chance. The other options do not fit a first-time lucky win.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “beginner's luck”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.