noun
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evil fortune; bad luck
-
an unfortunate or disastrous event; calamity
Synonym Usage
See affliction.
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.
The conflicts of interest and questionably moral options to bet on the misfortune of others has prompted many states to try and rein these platforms in.
From Salon • May 24, 2026
Someone else who could benefit from Conway's apparent misfortune is Findlay Curtis.
From BBC • May 18, 2026
The theatrical Mary may be good for laughs, but other than the hoop skirt and pipe curls, she bears no resemblance to the real Mary, whose life was crowded with tragedy, misfortune and misinterpretation.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026
"It was kind of funny, amid our misfortune."
From Barron's • May 5, 2026
I think of Agnes's misfortune, Marguerite's seeming malice, and the certainty of Mother Ermentrude's justice.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
