fluke

Everyday

1. A fluke is a lucky chance, something good that happened by accident, not because of skill. tree →
2. A fluke is a flat parasitic worm that can live inside animals or people. tree →
3. The flukes are the two flat parts of a whale's tail. tree →
4. A fluke is the flat pointed part of an anchor's arm. tree →
5. A fluke can also mean the tail fin of a fish. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and sport, «It was a fluke!» means a goal or win happened by luck. In maths and science, a fluke result is an odd one that probably happened by chance, so you repeat the test. In nature lessons, whale-watchers see the flukes when a whale dives.

Examples

• That goal was a total fluke! tree →
• Was it skill or a fluke? tree →
• Repeat the experiment in case the result was a fluke. tree →
• The whale lifted its flukes and dived. tree →
• Liver flukes can make sheep ill. tree →
• Winning the raffle twice was a fluke. tree →
• He passed by fluke, not by revising. tree →
• Puddock he swam down the brook, Sir Drake he catched him in his fluke. tree →

Note

Countable: flukes. Adjective: «flukey» or «fluky» (informal). In science, one strange result can be a fluke; that is why scientists repeat tests and take averages.