infelicity
Americannoun
plural
infelicities-
the quality or state of being unhappy; unhappiness.
-
misfortune; bad luck.
-
an unfortunate circumstance; misfortune.
-
inaptness, inappropriateness, or awkwardness, as of action or expression.
-
something inapt or infelicitous.
infelicities of style.
noun
-
the state or quality of being unhappy or unfortunate
-
an instance of bad luck or mischance; misfortune
-
something, esp a remark or expression, that is inapt or inappropriate
Etymology
Origin of infelicity
1350–1400; Middle English infelicite < Latin infēlīcitās. See in- 3, felicity
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 characters, with their insistence on self-determination, feel too modern, and there are a few infelicities, like the idea that “The Communist Manifesto,” first translated into English toward the end of 1850, would circulate onboard.
From New York Times
Then there’s the error-prone syntax — infelicities in editing and writing that add up quickly.
From Los Angeles Times
For a more complete and very funny deconstruction of its infelicity, read Jonathan Last’s riff in The Bulwark.
From New York Times
And I doubt they spent any time correcting whatever infelicities of my pen they found among my scribbled pages.
From The Guardian
Everything about me is out of proportion — including my peanut-sized head — so I face the choice of billowing, dowdy garments or tighter clothes that sometimes cruelly expose my physical infelicities.
From Salon
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.
