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
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
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.
If Mr. Lewis’s portrayal is wince-inducing on one end, Mr. Scott’s is almost equally unfortunate.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
That imminence has now become an unfortunate reality for Fishwife, which announced Wednesday that it is pausing shipments of the delicate fish for the summer.
From Salon • May 28, 2026
But even people who don’t mean to hurt capybaras can still do harm to them, an unfortunate side effect of them living in such proximity to humans.
From Slate • May 27, 2026
"The unfortunate thing is, it seems like when you figure out one thing the next year, it's something else."
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
"How if I show you a way by which you can stretch out your arm to take Narnia and yet draw it back unharmed if the attempt prove unfortunate?"
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
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.
