win the lottery

present singular third person wins the lottery · participle present winning the lottery · participle past won the lottery · past won the lottery

1. idiomaticinformalTo experience an extraordinary or highly fortunate event.

   I've been married to Wim for more than 32 years, and for 17 of those years he was also my IT rock at Accent Jobs. I really won the lottery with him: A role in a woman's shadow is not for every man. Wim is the one who helped me be daring enough to take a leap, time and time again.

   2022, Conny Vandendriessche, Dream, Dare, Do

   1 more example

   The juror snorted. “That guy thought he won the lottery just because he was out of commission for 90 days. When he found out what his problem was, the first thing he did was go to his lawyer—not his doctor. Then he comes here and tries to tell us his sex life was worth $50,000 a day. No way. We didn't buy what he was selling.”

   1999 September 1, Jim McElhaney, ABA Journal, volume 94, number 2, published 1 February 2008, page 24b

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see win, lottery.