as luck would have it
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
by a fortunate or unfortunate coincidence
Literally: the way luck has caused something to happen
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
But as bad luck would have it, his mother was the first to return, leaving Grete clasping the chest in the room next door where she was trying to shift it all by herself, without of course moving it from the spot.
As luck would have it, my best friend is the most wonderful cook in the world, and her contributions to any cottage holiday more than compensate for those who come with a tin of sardines in tomato sauce and a Pot Noodle.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (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 “as luck would have it” mean?
by a fortunate or unfortunate coincidence Literally: the way luck has caused something to happen
Is “as luck would have it” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.