noun
-
evil fortune; bad luck
-
an unfortunate or disastrous event; calamity
Synonym Usage
See affliction.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of misfortune
Explanation
On a gloomy day, you may feel compelled to list your misfortunes: a broken umbrella, a broken heart, a broken toe. Misfortune means bad luck or the state of having bad luck. Break misfortune into its parts and you get mis- meaning bad and fortune meaning chance or luck. Sometimes it can feel like misfortune follows you. Picture it as a gloomy psychic named "Miss Fortune" who can only see the bad things in your future.
Vocabulary lists containing misfortune
Power Prefix: mis-
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"The Experiment" and "Superstition"
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Girl with a Pearl Earring
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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.
See Examples For:
"The most effective and relentless lobbyist that it has been my misfortune to encounter during the last two decades," according to ex-minister Sir Oliver Letwin.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
At the time of her misfortune, I was book editor of the Los Angeles Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Dodgers have spent enough to accumulate a surplus of elite players built to withstand virtually any misfortune.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of being assigned an inexperienced, overconfident boss, you know what happens next.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
In our lives there is no margin for misfortune.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Back pain, difficult childbirth, dental crowding and sinus infections are not random misfortunes.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
The festival comes with many traditions, including deep-cleaning the house beforehand to sweep away the old year's misfortunes and welcome a fresh start.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
Sarah Ferguson's image was once about her good-humoured ability to bounce back from misfortunes and embarrassment, but the latest Epstein emails appear to cast her in a different light.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
Despite all of her misfortunes, self-inflicted or otherwise, Allen held her head high, beating the notoriously brutal British tabloids at their own game — or, at the very least, becoming a formative opponent.
From Salon ● Oct. 29, 2025
One is not supposed to laugh at other people’s misfortunes, but I could picture the scene in my mind so perfectly, it caused me to laugh until my sides hurt.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
