unfortunate
Americanadjective
-
suffering from bad luck.
an unfortunate person.
- Synonyms:
- hapless, unsuccessful
-
unfavorable or inauspicious.
an unfortunate beginning.
-
regrettable or deplorable.
an unfortunate remark.
-
marked by or inviting misfortune.
an unfortunate development.
-
lamentable; sad.
the unfortunate death of her parents.
noun
-
unfortunates
plural
adjective
-
causing or attended by misfortune
-
unlucky, unsuccessful, or unhappy
an unfortunate character
-
regrettable or unsuitable
an unfortunate speech
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of unfortunate
Explanation
Something unfortunate is something that you wished had not happened — like that unfortunate incident that got you suspended from school. Let's not bring that up. Unfortunate can also describe unlucky circumstances. A natural disaster like an earthquake or a tornado will always have unfortunate consequences. You can even use unfortunate as a noun to identify someone or something not favored by fortune — like the unfortunates whose lives were shattered by the earthquake.
Vocabulary lists containing unfortunate
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Vocabulary from the Songs of "The Little Mermaid"
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Schooled
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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:
“We heard that … there was only one water station, which was unfortunate because there was just not enough water for everyone,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
But the film merely gestures to its own unfortunate place in history, without ever cementing it as a tragedy.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
To avoid an unfortunate fate, remember the saying “Turn around, don’t drown,” Redd said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
“It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is,” they wrote, adding, “Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
A few unfortunate servants were tossing fat gold coins into the street, warding off the pixies as best they could.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Now that I’ve seen the show – me, and the few thousand other unfortunates rubbernecking at this terrible accident – I’m here to assure you that this was never about us.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
The variety of goals that the Japanese striker scores is astonishing, but all of them have one thing in common - speed of thought that bewilders the unfortunates tasked with the job of marking him.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2023
The Rosecrans Club was dedicated to caring for women and children, “especially little unfortunates and poor cripples.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
These unfortunates are forced to live in hiding in the attics and basements of the sympathetic forgetful.
From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2020
The ferryman was Charon and those he would not admit to his boat were the unfortunates who had not been duly buried.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
