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.
Even the way that she reacts to her misfortune — and a lot of it is self-inflicted — feels like a past version of me, or a low-vibrational version of me.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
We pay to insure our cars, homes and even our lives against misfortune.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 2, 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
The argument goes on long enough, and with enough attendant pain, that a viewer will inevitably ask himself what role personal responsibility plays in all this collateral misfortune.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026
My lapse in standing was the misfortune of being from the nouveau pauvre side of what passed for an elegant family there in the Pittsburgh of the South.
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.
