Adjacent Words

Unfortunate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

UNFOR'TUNATE, a. Not successful; not prosperous; as an unfortunate adventure; an unfortunate voyage; unfortunate attempts; an unfortunate man; an unfortunate commander; unfortunate business.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune; "an unfortunate turn of events"; "an unfortunate decision"; "unfortunate investments"; "an unfortunate night for all concerned" [ant: fortunate]
2: not auspicious; boding ill [syn: inauspicious, unfortunate] [ant: auspicious]
3: unsuitable or regrettable; "an unfortunate choice of words"; "an unfortunate speech" n
1: a person who suffers misfortune [syn: unfortunate, unfortunate person]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 15th century 1. a. not favored by fortune ; unsuccessful, unlucky <an unfortunate young man> b. marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune <an unfortunate decision> 2. a. infelicitous, unsuitable <an unfortunate choice of words> b. deplorable, regrettable <an unfortunate lack of taste> II. noun Date: 1683 an unfortunate person

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 having bad fortune; unlucky. 2 unhappy. 3 regrettable. 4 disastrous. --n. an unfortunate person.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Unfortunate Un*for"tu*nate, a. Not fortunate; unsuccessful; not prosperous; unlucky; attended with misfortune; unhappy; as, an unfortunate adventure; an unfortunate man; an unfortunate commander; unfortunate business. -- n. An unfortunate person. --Hood. -- Un*for"tu*nate*ly, adv. -- Un*for"tu*nate*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(unfortunates) 1. If you describe someone as unfortunate, you mean that something unpleasant or unlucky has happened to them. You can also describe the unpleasant things that happen to them as unfortunate. Some unfortunate person passing below could all too easily be seriously injured... Apparently he had been unfortunate enough to fall victim to a gang of thugs... Through some unfortunate accident, the information reached me a day late... It was unfortunate for Davey that his teacher did not take kindly to him. = unlucky ADJ 2. If you describe something that has happened as unfortunate, you think that it is inappropriate, embarrassing, awkward, or undesirable. It really is desperately unfortunate that this should have happened just now. ...the unfortunate incident of the upside-down Canadian flag... ADJ 3. You can describe someone as unfortunate when they are poor or have a difficult life. Every year we have charity days to raise money for unfortunate people. ADJ • An unfortunate is someone who is unfortunate. Dorothy was another of life's unfortunates. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Unsuccessful, unprosperous, unlucky, luckless, ill-fated, ill-starred, hapless. 2. Disastrous, calamitous, unhappy, deplorable. 3. Infelicitous, inappropriate, inopportune, unlucky.

Moby Thesaurus

abortive, afflictive, apocalyptic, awful, awkward, bad, badly off, baleful, baneful, black, bodeful, boding, bootless, calamitous, catastrophic, cursed, dark, deplorable, depressed, dire, disastrous, dismal, distressing, disturbing, donsie, doomed, doomful, dreary, evil, evil-starred, failed, failing, fatal, fateful, foreboding, forlorn, fortuneless, fruitless, funest, futile, gloomy, graceless, grievous, hapless, hard-luck guy, hardcase, heartbreaking, ill, ill off, ill-advised, ill-boding, ill-chosen, ill-considered, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-seasoned, ill-starred, ill-suited, ill-timed, impolitic, improper, in adverse circumstances, inadvisable, inappropriate, inapt, inauspicious, incongruous, inconvenient, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inept, inexpedient, infelicitous, inopportune, intempestive, intrusive, irrelevant, lame, lamentable, late, loser, lowering, luckless, mal a propos, malapropos, malefic, manque, menacing, miscarried, miscarrying, miserable, mistimed, of evil portent, of no effect, off base, ominous, out of line, out of luck, out of phase, out of place, out of time, pathetic, pitiable, planet-struck, poor, poor unfortunate, portending, portentous, premature, regrettable, ruinous, sad, sad sack, schlemiel, schlimazel, short of luck, sinister, somber, star-crossed, starred, stickit, stillborn, successless, sure loser, terrible, threatening, too late, too soon, tragic, unbefitting, unblessed, underprivileged, undesirable, unfavorable, unfit, unfitting, unhandy, unhappy, unlucky, unmeet, unprofitable, unpromising, unpropitious, unprosperous, unprovidential, unready, unripe, unseasonable, unseemly, unsuccessful, unsuitable, untimely, untoward, unwise, upsetting, useless, victim, woebegone, woeful, wretched, wrong