who would have thunk it /ˈhuː wʊd həv ˈθʌŋk ɪt/ phrase1 •(informal) A rhetorical question used to express incredulity: who would have guessed it?; who would have thought that would happen?From somewhere in their well-fed, timorous, it-can't-happen-here ranks, a Spartacus had arisen—who would have thunk it? — 2001