Murphy's law
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Murphy's law¹
Where it comes from
Named after Edward A. Murphy Jr. (1918–1990), a development engineer who worked for a brief time on the rocket-sled experiments of the United States Air Force in 1948.
proper noun Murphy's Law
-
An adage which states that if anything can go wrong, then it will.
I ran into the perfect exemplification of “Murphy's law” at one university, where everything that could go wrong did!
Similar: Sod's law, Finagle's law
Murphy's Law²
proper noun
- Alternative letter-case form of Murphy's law
Translations
Every language
name adage which states that if anything can go wrong it will
| Español | ley de Murphy |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 머피의 법칙 meopiui beopchik |
| 日本語 | マーフィーの法則 Māfī-no hōsoku |
| 中文 | 摩菲定理 Mófēi dìnglǐ, 墨菲定律 Mòfēi dìnglǜ |
| Português | Lei de Murphy |
| Français | loi de Murphy |
| Deutsch | Murphys Gesetz |
| Ελληνικά | νόμος του Μέρφυ nómos tou Mérfy |
| Русский | зако́н по́длости zakón pódlosti, зако́н Мёрфи zakón Mjórfi |
Talk about this word "Murphy's law." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/murphy's%20law. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. Murphy's law. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/murphy's%20law "Murphy's law." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/murphy's%20law.Cite this
@misc{murphy_s_law_2026,
title = {Murphy's law},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/murphy's%20law},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
