infelicitous
Americanadjective
-
inapt, inappropriate, or awkward; malapropos.
an infelicitous remark.
-
not felicitous, happy, or fortunate; unhappy.
adjective
-
not felicitous; unfortunate
-
inappropriate or unsuitable
Other Word Forms
- infelicitously adverb
Etymology
Origin of infelicitous
First recorded in 1825–35; in- 3 + felicitous
Explanation
You can use the adjective infelicitous when something doesn't work quite right, whether it's a remark or a wrong turn down a dark street or an unfortunate outfit worn to a job interview. If the ultimate outcome is awkward or unhappy, it's infelicitous. It would be infelicitous to complain about the broken air conditioning in your Mercedes while volunteering at a homeless shelter. In other words, it would be dreadfully inappropriate. Since the 1530s, infelicitous has been used to mean the opposite of felicitous, meaning "happy," which comes from the Latin word for "happiness," felicitas.
Vocabulary lists containing infelicitous
Way Off: Synonyms for "Wrong"
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Tess of the d'Urbervilles
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Pay Attention, Carter Jones
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The former minister said his comments were "infelicitous" but "his concerns about Islamism are entirely legitimate" and he should not have been suspended from the party.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2024
It struck me as infelicitous at best that Aster’s “hero” should be “subjected” to the very sort of inner-city crime fantasy that so often misrepresents urban life in American pop culture.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2023
The current infelicitous phrase, coined in 2004 by sociologist Irene Levin, is that I’m part of an LAT couple, Living Apart Together.
From The Guardian • Sep. 23, 2017
While he was not quite “the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar” — as John Adams once acidly described him — the circumstances surrounding his out-of-wedlock birth were certainly infelicitous.
From New York Times • May 3, 2017
The copy editor for the series, our last line of defense against the stupid mistake or infelicitous phrase, was Joe Rogers.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
