What's the difference between lucky and plucky?

Lucky


Definition:

  • (superl.) Favored by luck; fortunate; meeting with good success or good fortune; -- said of persons; as, a lucky adventurer.
  • (superl.) Producing, or resulting in, good by chance, or unexpectedly; favorable; auspicious; fortunate; as, a lucky mistake; a lucky cast; a lucky hour.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "The lucky ones are studying, the others are like me," he said.
  • (2) If you’ve escaped the impact of cuts so far , consider yourself lucky, but don’t think that you won’t be affected after the next tranche hits.
  • (3) Some people are lucky enough to have someone to look after them,” Leigh broods.
  • (4) They’ve already collaborated with folks like DOOM, Ghostface Killah and Frank Ocean; I was lucky enough to hear a sneak peek of their incredible collaboration with Future Islands’ Sam Herring from their forthcoming album.
  • (5) And the idea that it is somehow “unfair” to tax a small number of mostly rich people who were lucky enough to buy houses in central London that have soared in value to over £2m is perverse.
  • (6) After trading mistakes, Wawrinka got lucky at 30-30, mishitting a service return and fooling Djokovic.
  • (7) Do get yourself elected as a governor If you’re lucky, your school hasn’t yet been swallowed up by a private academy chain, and so its governing body still has ultimate power, and the headteacher is accountable to it.
  • (8) The lucky thing is, says Susan Calman , that although she is "an eternal worrier, occasionally I do something stupid."
  • (9) Next they are lucky if they can obtain an appointment before the boil bursts.
  • (10) Training for foster carers often depends on the standards of the local authority or fostering agency in question, and we are lucky to have strong support from our social worker and agency.
  • (11) Start your exploring at Bearreraig Bay, where, if you are lucky, you may find belemnites, ammonites and bivalves.
  • (12) ), and yes I have benefited from major label marketing budgets, so I am definitely one of the lucky ones.
  • (13) Anita Anand, the BBC presenter, tweeted during Cameron's visit: "My grandfather was one of the lucky few who survived."
  • (14) Forget about the infants' milk, only lucky children can get it.
  • (15) If you're lucky, you find what you need, then get out again.
  • (16) Those who bought "luxury' villas for €1m in the good times would be lucky to get a third for them now – if, that is, they could ever find a buyer happy to tolerate living on an unfinished complex.
  • (17) I suppose I was lucky compared to many kids in today’s care system.
  • (18) Then again, any show attracting reviews as bad as Celtic have had in the last week would be lucky to survive any longer at the Festival and this performance has left them on the fringes of European football.
  • (19) We all know someone who has had a baby, broken an arm or has been seriously ill. Do we consider enough how lucky we are to see our GP for free?
  • (20) Although Migaloo’s rough itinerary can be figured out, it is still a lucky whale watcher who spots him, Oskar Peterson, from the White Whale Research Centre , told Guardian Australia.

Plucky


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having pluck or courage; characterized by pluck; displaying pluck; courageous; spirited; as, a plucky race.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) When asked why the streets of London were not heaving with demonstrators protesting against Russia turning Aleppo into the Guernica of our times, Stop the War replied that it had no wish to add to the “jingoism” politicians were whipping up against plucky little Russia .
  • (2) Behind the sedately revolving capsules of the London Eye, plucky local resident George Turner has been holding another gargantuan development machine to account in a David-and-Goliath planning battle that reached the High Court.
  • (3) Whereas England was in retreat, Spain was widely admired as a nation of plucky fighters who had just conquered the Muslim kingdom of Granada.
  • (4) Despite its environmental projects and its philanthropic arm, the perception of Google is slowly morphing from plucky David to sinister Goliath.
  • (5) "The BBC are the Germans of this tournament, slick and reliable, and ITV are the plucky Costa Ricans who gave us some great moments even if they don't get to lift the trophy," said Ben Preston, editor of Radio Times.
  • (6) Misguided attempts by well-wishers to literally or metaphorically pat her on the back and praise her "pluckiness" are given short shrift.
  • (7) Indeed, read the “illustrative” examples the DWP provides in the consultation document – a hypothetical 58-year-old woman with osteoarthritis who “uses the sink for support when getting off the toilet, dresses sitting down and wears slip-on shoes for ease” – and it is easy to get the impression that what disabled people need is just a plucky attitude rather than social security.
  • (8) I'm tempted as I think Liverpool might bottle it against Newcastle, Chelsea should see off an awful Cardiff team and even though plucky little City will probably get a drubbing against Big Sam's claret and blue army they'll still finish first.
  • (9) It’s an intentionally ridiculous solution to a ridiculous problem.” Another plucky Dutch designer thinks he can turn the pollution into a lucrative commodity.
  • (10) The country they love no longer exists, except in Ealing comedies – my favourite one of which is Passport to Pimlico (1949), in which plucky Londoners paradoxically demonstrate their Britishness by seceding from the British state.
  • (11) As if to reinforce the image of "plucky Georgia" fighting against the odds, there have been TV images of the Georgian president, wearing a flak jacket, bundled away by his security guards during a visit to Gori as Russian aircraft buzzed overhead.
  • (12) We hear it today at its coarsest when English football fans sing about “ Ten German bombers ” shot down by plucky British fighters, and then chant, “ Fuck off Europe, we’re all voting out .” Not that myth-making is uniquely British.
  • (13) MC PREDICTION: Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Czech Republic GROUP E REP IRELAND Almost a stereotypically plucky team hiding major weaknesses, particularly in goal, but a victory over Germany and a two-leg win against Bosnia shows Martin O’Neill’s side are capable of shocking better sides.
  • (14) May talk about Liverpool, too 9.15am Below the line, Chaval asks: "Sean, I'm of a mind to back the plucky Danish resistance to hang on for a draw against a languid Dutch side today, at odds not too shy of 3-1.
  • (15) Jim Murphy earns respect for his plucky fight to defend a third of seats that might be held, but Labour’s Scots identity crisis runs deep.
  • (16) But she was a real optimist with a plucky attitude.
  • (17) And rather than being the product of a dynamic free market and individual plucky entrepreneurs, their technological success owes everything to the public sector.
  • (18) But for a thrusting young company eager to blow up a traditional market but without anything much in the way of an advertising budget, it seems no controversy – courted or not – that allows you to play the plucky but oppressed newcomer, eager only to get on and do your thing, will do you much harm.
  • (19) Record heights But Setanta, named after a plucky Celtic warrior, leapt into the big league when European competition authorities forced the Premier League to open up the way it sells its rights.
  • (20) My own first encounter with Norfolk in literature came in the form of the heroic and crime-solving adventures of Arthur Ransome's Coot Club , a plucky little gang of boys and girls who live around Horning on the Norfolk Broads, in the Swallows and Amazons series of novels, a world as far from my own upbringing as was imaginable.