Suppose that someone guessed something correctly, but it's totally a guess, he knew nothing about it. What do you call this guess? Is it natural to say a blind guess?
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2Consider serendipitous guess & lucky guess– PremCommented Oct 2, 2022 at 11:38
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2 Answers
"Blind guess" is fine. Other words that can be used are
Stab in the dark: (The Free Dictionary by FARLEX) proverb A guess or estimate with very little or no assurance as to its accuracy; a wild guess.
Shot in the dark (The Free Dictionary by FARLEX) A guess or estimate with very little or no assurance as to its accuracy.
Wild guess (Wiktionary) A guess that is not based on any evidence, knowledge, or experience.
If we are focusing on the result "fluke" can also be used .
Fluke (Wiktionary) A lucky or improbable occurrence, with the implication that the occurrence could not be repeated.
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3Fluke generally has implications of being a good thing, though. So if the result is bad, I wouldn't use the word fluke for it.– HearthCommented Oct 1, 2022 at 14:10
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I used it in the sense of getting it correct though it was unlikely. Does it make sense if I say, "It was a fluke, that he could have guessed the poor outcome beforehand."? Can fluke be used this way with a bad or poor outcome?– banuyayiCommented Oct 1, 2022 at 15:10
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1Yes, I think it could be said that guessing right was a fluke, though the bad thing happening would not be. Though I've noticed that more and more people use the word fluke for bad outcomes as well lately, so it could be shifting in meaning anyway.– HearthCommented Oct 1, 2022 at 15:12
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A "blind guess" seems idiomatic and fine to me, you also could call it "a shot in the dark":
an attempt to guess something when you have no information or knowledge about the subject and therefore cannot possibly know what the answer is
