murphy's law

English - English

Definition of murphy's law in English English dictionary

An adage which states that if anything can go wrong, then it will

Murphy's Law is the idea that whatever can go wrong in a situation will go wrong. = Sod's Law. a tendency for bad things to happen whenever it is possible for them to do so - used humorously British Equivalent: sod's law (Edward Murphy (born 1917), U.S. engineer who first thought of it)

humorous axiom stating that anything that can go wrong will go wrong

Related Terms

Murphy's laws

number of humorous aphorisms which claim that life works in the most ironic way (e.g. the very thing that we don't want to happen usually happens, something always goes wrong at the worst time, etc.)

Turkish pronunciation

mırfiz lô

Synonyms

sod's law, finagle's law

Pronunciation

/ˈmərfēz ˈlô/ /ˈmɜrfiːz ˈlɔː/

Etymology

() From Edward A. Murphy, Jr., a development engineer working for a brief time on rocket sled experiments done by the United States Air Force in 1948.