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Meaning of "Sod's law" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF SOD'S LAW

Sod's law  [sɒdz] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SOD'S LAW

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Sod's law is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SOD'S LAW MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Sod's law

Sod's law is a name for the axiom that "if something can go wrong, it will", with the further addendum, in British culture, that it will happen at "the worst possible time". This may simply be construed, again in British culture, as "Expect the best, plan for the worst" The phrase is seemingly derived, at least in part, from the colloquialism an "unlucky sod"; a term for someone who has had some bad unlucky experience, and is usually used as a sympathetic reference to the person The term is still used in the United Kingdom, though in North America the eponymous "Murphy's law" is more popular. Sod's law is similar to, but broader than, Murphy's law. For example, concepts such as "bad fortune will be tailored to the individual" and "good fortune will occur in spite of the individual's actions" are sometimes given as examples of Sod's law in action. This would broaden Sod's law to a general sense of being "mocked by fate". In these aspects it is similar to some definitions of irony, particularly the irony of fate.

Definition of Sod's law in the English dictionary

The definition of Sod's law in the dictionary is a humorous or facetious precept stating that if something can go wrong or turn out inconveniently it will Also called: Murphy's Law.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SOD'S LAW


fantods
ˈfænˌtɒdz
gods
ɡɒdz
Mods
mɒdz
NACODS
ˈneɪkɒdz
odds
ɒdz
quads
kwɒdz

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SOD'S LAW

Socotra
Socrates
Socratic
Socratic elenchus
Socratic irony
Socratic method
Socratically
Socraticism
Socratist
Socred

WORDS THAT END LIKE SOD'S LAW

Avogadro´s law
Boyle´s law
Bragg´s law
Buys Ballot´s law
Coulomb´s law
court of law
Curie-Weiss law
Dalton´s law
Gay-Lussac´s law
Gresham´s law
Henry´s law
Hooke´s law
Hubble´s law
ideal gas law
Lenz´s law
Murphy´s law
Ohm´s law
Parkinson´s law
pass law
Scots law
Snell´s law

Synonyms and antonyms of Sod's law in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «Sod's law» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SOD'S LAW

Find out the translation of Sod's law to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of Sod's law from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «Sod's law» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

草皮定律
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

La ley de Sod
570 millions of speakers

English

Sod´s law
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

वतन का कानून
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

قانون الهيئة العامة للسدود و
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

Закон подлости
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

A lei de Sod
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

সোড এর আইন
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

La loi de gazon
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Undang-undang Sod
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

SOD -Gesetz
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

ソッドの法則
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

잔디 의 법칙
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Hukum Sod
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

Pháp luật của cỏ
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

சட் சட்டத்தின்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

सॉडचे कायदे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Sopa kanunu
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

Legge di Sod
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

SOD w prawo
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

Закон підлості
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

Legea lui Sod lui
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

Νόμος Sod του
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

Sooi se wet
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

Sod lag
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

Sod lov
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of Sod's law

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SOD'S LAW»

The term «Sod's law» is normally little used and occupies the 139.812 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
35
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «Sod's law» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of Sod's law
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «Sod's law».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SOD'S LAW» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «Sod's law» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «Sod's law» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about Sod's law

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SOD'S LAW»

Discover the use of Sod's law in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to Sod's law and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Sod's Law: Why Life Always Lands Butter Side Down
This book reassures us that indeed it does - and that that higher power is hell bent on buggering things up. Only by laughing heartlessly at the misfortunes of others can we make ourselves feel better. Sod's Law enables us to do just that.
Sam Leith, 2010
2
Sod's Law
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sod's law is a name for the axiom "Anything that can go wrong, will." "Toast will always land butter side down" is often given as an example of Sod's law in action.
Jesse Russell, Ronald Cohn, 2012
3
New Scientist
Sod's law of latent time rules that things always take twice as long as planned. This applies not only to research and development but to seeking information, writing reports, finding jobs, contacting people at work and learning new techniques.
4
A Dictionary of Catch Phrases
That review opened by saying, 'Philosophy, like life, is subject to what is vulgarly known as Sod's Law. In life, Sod's Law takes the form of doors opening the wrong way, love being unrequited, and so forth.' This provoked a correspondence; ...
Eric Partridge, 2003
5
Understanding Customers
Rather than prove that management is impossible, I think we have explained the phenomenon sometimes known as Sod's Law (also attributed to Murphy on occasion). This is not a true law, but a joke which has enough truth in it to make it  ...
Chris Rice, 2010
6
Lake District Winter Climbs: Snow, Ice and Mixed Climbs in ...
The steep wall above West Wall Traverse has a steep grassy break on its right- hand side. Sod's Law 90m VI (6) 1984 This follows the grassy break. 1 25m. The shallow open groove leads to a large flake belay. 2 35m. A short steep corner ...
Brian Davison, Stephen Reid, 2006
7
Stickmaking Tales
When you are working with tools Sod's Law often involves your thumb. You know the sort of thing that happens; you're bashing away quite happily when the left thumb loses concentration and decides to go walkabout and ends up inevitably ...
Leo Gowan, 1996
8
Curious English Words and Phrases: The Truth Behind the ...
Sod's law is considered to be a corruption of God's law: in God's law everything goes well, whereas in sod's law everything goes wrong. But there was a modern development. There has been dispute for some years about the origin of Murphy's ...
Max Cryer, 2012
9
Thoughts Before Breakfast
Instead of enjoying his life, he spent a lot of his time lamenting on what an awful hand of cards Sod's Law had dealt him. After a few weeks in beautiful New Zealand, Victor did start to realize that you are responsible for your own happiness and ...
Carole Simpson, 2008
10
A Funny Old Life: An Anecdotal Romp Through the Sailing ...
The rest was down to Sod's Law. Well, 'Murphy's Law' if you have delicate susceptibilities – and it takes more than a dab of TCP to cure those. It is Sod's Law that gives the public speaker a faulty trouser zip, brings Jehovah's Witnesses  ...
Des Sleightholme, 2013

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SOD'S LAW»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term Sod's law is used in the context of the following news items.
1
What I wore this week: workwear for heatwaves
Sod's law, number 338: the heatwave will come, not the week when you've booked a week's holiday and rented a seaside cottage, but the week after that, when ... «The Guardian, Jul 15»
2
RICHARD ORD: Do my wife and rabbit share murderous thoughts?
Sod's Law dictated that the theme park would have its safety questioned after we'd booked up. We would then be heading from Alton Towers to Cornwall. «Shields Gazette, Jul 15»
3
5 Sod's Law Annoyances That Have Scientific Explanations
Sod's Law: The universal principle of “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong”. The law is a true tribute to the infinite depth and complexity of the inherent negativity of ... «WhatCulture, Jul 15»
4
Great to have someone as good as Jamie Ellis for back-up kicking …
“It was just Sod's law the other night that after striking the conversions from all over the field he seemed to lose his concentration a bit for that last effort. «Huddersfield Examiner, Jul 15»
5
Basketball: Jets defy odds for maiden victory
Hawks bench forward Morgan Natanahira tries to thwart Jets guard Brooke Ruscoe as Derone Raukawa closes in. Photo / Duncan Brown. Sod's law it's called. «Hawke's Bay Today, May 15»
6
That Howsoever Hereintofore Contract Wot I Wrote
But even contracts that are specifically drafted often tend to be of less than optimal quality – and it's sod's law that any sub-par aspects of a contract only get ... «CIO UK, Mar 15»
7
Evans lauds strike duo
He added: "It's sod's law but my point being is he gets that chance because we didn't mark properly then he puts it in the net. "I thought Conor played well. «Eurosport, Feb 15»
8
You can start a business and here's how. 5 entrepreneurial myths …
Where it goes pear-shaped time after time is when two former salary-earners go all in, the business doesn't take off rapidly, cash runs out (usually, sod's law ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Jan 15»
9
West Ham 0 - Aston Villa 0: Brad Guzan bursts Hammers' bubbles
Sod's law, then, that just when the accolades and compliments are pouring like never before, the remarkable West Ham revolution should suddenly grind to a ... «Daily Star, Nov 14»
10
Sod's law on the subs desk
The golden rule - or Sod's law - of subbing or editing an article about poor levels of literacy and spelling is that you are almost guaranteed to miss a typo. «TheMediaBlog.co.uk, Sep 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Sod's law [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/sods-law>. Apr 2024 ».
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