unhappy

adjective

un·​hap·​py ˌən-ˈha-pē 

1

: not fortunate : unlucky

an unhappy coincidence

2

: not cheerful or glad : sad, wretched

3

a

: causing or subject to misfortune : inauspicious

b

: infelicitous, inappropriate

an unhappy choice

unhappiness noun

Synonyms

• sad
• depressed
• miserable
• heartbroken
• bad
• upset
• sorry
• worried
• melancholy
• disappointed

Examples of unhappy in a Sentence

I can see that he's unhappy, but I don't know why.

I've never seen her looking so unhappy.

For three unhappy days we were all stuck in the house because of the blizzard.

an unhappy choice of career

The movie's hero meets an unhappy fate.

Recent Examples on the Web

While there are reasons to be unhappy with the performance, each win in the NFL is hard to get. —Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Sep. 2025

Meanwhile, news reports and Reddit threads suggested season ticket holders have been largely unhappy with their investment in tickets. —Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 27 Sep. 2025

Some users were unhappy with the force of both its blowing and vacuuming modes. —Bestreviews, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025

A lot of people are really unhappy about this, especially as not everyone is following the mandate. —R29 Team, Refinery29, 26 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for unhappy

• chappie
• happy
• nappy
• pappy
• sappy
• scrappy
• snappy

Kids Definition

unhappy

adjective

un·​hap·​py ˌən-ˈhap-ē 

1

: not fortunate : unlucky

an unhappy mistake

2

: not cheerful : sad

3

: inappropriate

an unhappy color combination

unhappily

-ˈhap-ə-lē

adverb

unhappiness

-ˈhap-i-nəs

noun