as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
the hapless motorist had barely paid his bill and driven away from the body shop when a truck sideswiped his car
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hapless
In a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains, friends likened my outfit to that of Meredith Blake, the hapless fiancée in The Parent Trap.
—
C Pam Zhang,
Travel + Leisure,
11 June 2026
Bargatze likes to be the butt of the joke, casting himself as the hapless but well-meaning dad who can barely keep track of his day-to-day needs.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Cherry plays Gary, a hapless, low-key type of guy who goes on a blind date, to avenge infidelity in his jaded long-term relationship, with the much younger, devil-may-care Ell, played by Borat breakout Maria Bakalova.
—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
4 June 2026
But Faris and Hall, whose hapless BFFs Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks had by then become its A-list faces, continued with Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4 alone.
—
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
C Pam Zhang,
Travel + Leisure,
11 June 2026
Bargatze likes to be the butt of the joke, casting himself as the hapless but well-meaning dad who can barely keep track of his day-to-day needs.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Cherry plays Gary, a hapless, low-key type of guy who goes on a blind date, to avenge infidelity in his jaded long-term relationship, with the much younger, devil-may-care Ell, played by Borat breakout Maria Bakalova.
—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
4 June 2026
But Faris and Hall, whose hapless BFFs Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks had by then become its A-list faces, continued with Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4 alone.
—
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
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The injury was an unfortunate occurrence in his World Cup debut and could affect Sweden’s chances going forward.
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The mini-slump in Eugene coincides with the aforementioned downturn in Spokane to create an unfortunate stretch for college basketball in the Pacific Northwest.
Adjective
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Isdin Melatonik If traditional retinoids have left your sensitive skin unhappy, Isdin's Melatonik Recovery Night Serum offers a gentler approach with bakuchiol.
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Brown and the Celtics have both since denied speculation that the 29-year-old second-team All-NBA selection was unhappy with his role in Boston.
Adjective
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The one in which his tiny team of negotiators surrendered to the radicals ruling that luckless nation.
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Any one of those locations could have allowed the heat of reentry to burn through the aluminum alloy walls of the spacecraft, killing any luckless crew that may have been inside, in much the kind of reentry breakup that doomed the shuttle Columbia and its seven-person crew in 2003.
Adjective
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The loss of experience and military brainpower had disastrous consequences, especially in Russian lives lost, during the Winter War against Finland and the early stages of World War II against Nazi Germany.
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Some prominent Democrats are warning that Mamdani’s success could spell doom for their party in November, arguing that what works in New York City would be disastrous in the heartland.
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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