hapless

Advancedzipf 2.88

Pronunciation

/ˈhæpləs/(HAP-lus)

Part of speech

adjectiveneutral

Chinese

不幸的；倒霉的（引人同情）

Definition

Unfortunate; having no luck.

Word family

  • haplessly/ˈhæpləsli/(adv)不幸地

Collocations

  • hapless victim
  • hapless traveler
  • hapless fool
  • hapless hero

Examples

  1. 1.The hapless tourist was scammed on his very first day abroad. (unlucky)
  2. 2.A hapless goalkeeper let three easy shots get past him. (pitifully unfortunate)

Synonyms

  • unfortunate/ʌnˈfɔːtʃənət/— unlucky, general
  • ill-fated/ˌɪlˈfeɪtɪd/— destined to fail
  • luckless/ˈlʌkləs/— without luck

Etymology

hap (luck, fortune) + -less (without) — without any luck