a stopped clock is right twice a day

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: a broken clock is right twice a day · even a stopped clock is right twice a day

Meaning · English

Even an unreliable source can be correct occasionally

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Ngay cả nguồn tin không đáng tin cậy cũng có thể đúng đôi khi

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: a stopped clock showing correct time twice daily
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English
Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “a stopped clock is right twice a day” mean?

Even an unreliable source can be correct occasionally Literally: a stopped clock showing correct time twice daily

Is “a stopped clock is right twice a day” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.