infelicitous
Americanadjective
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inapt, inappropriate, or awkward; malapropos.
an infelicitous remark.
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not felicitous, happy, or fortunate; unhappy.
adjective
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not felicitous; unfortunate
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inappropriate or unsuitable
Other Word Forms
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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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.
