noun
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evil fortune; bad luck
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an unfortunate or disastrous event; calamity
Related Words
See affliction.
Etymology
Origin of misfortune
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.
By leaning in to the misfortune of a lot of stolen chocolate, the company “embraced the opportunity and turned it into a positive.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026
Normally, others misfortune isn’t something I pile on, but oh, did that woman earn some scorn.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026
The hard fact is that genius isn’t reserved for the worthy any more than misfortune is reserved for the wicked.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026
This is her first medal since Pyeongchang 2018 and follows her Beijing 2022 misfortune, and it matches the medal she won as a teenager at Sochi 2014.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026
But this epiphany occurred only after the intervention of time and misfortune, when my father’s self-satisfied existence had begun to crumble beneath him.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
