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
But the possibility of a rookie second-rounder helping a hapless franchise to the bottom of the Play-In Tournament is too low stakes.
—
Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The Jets are winless and hapless, making passing the football look harder than passing a kidney stone.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
He is joined by American and Canadian stars new to the show including Crisp, Paulo Costanzo and Stephen Kunken, along with some older faces in the shape of Fleabag star Hugh Skinner, who returns as hapless intern Will Humphries, and narrator David Tennant.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
Or does the breath of the chill foreshadow a grim fate for our engaging, if hapless, hero?
—Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Fred Katz, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
The Jets are winless and hapless, making passing the football look harder than passing a kidney stone.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 12 Oct. 2025
He is joined by American and Canadian stars new to the show including Crisp, Paulo Costanzo and Stephen Kunken, along with some older faces in the shape of Fleabag star Hugh Skinner, who returns as hapless intern Will Humphries, and narrator David Tennant.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
Or does the breath of the chill foreshadow a grim fate for our engaging, if hapless, hero?
—Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
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Thus a wonderful section on The Jew of Malta climaxes in an unfortunate vision of the text as a secret message to Lord Strange, a wealthy and important patron of the arts.—
Isaac Butler,
The Atlantic,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Such an event, let alone two within less than an hour of each other, is both unfortunate and potentially very suspicious.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Pauline Collins, the exuberant British actress who inspired women — and men, too — to do something to change their unhappy lives with her Oscar-nominated and Olivier- and Tony-winning performances in Shirley Valentine, has died.—
Lisa de los Reyes,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Nov. 2025
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That distaste didn’t hurt Spanberger and her ticket, because 18% of those unhappy voters backed her anyway.—
David Weigel,
semafor.com,
5 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Vasyanovych plays Roman, a luckless director who’s out of work and trying to shoot his latest film in a country whose dwindling population is still traumatized by the war.—
Christopher Vourlias,
Variety,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The Arizona Wildcats clobbered Colorado, 52-17, marking another disastrous defeat for Coach Prime.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
2 Nov. 2025
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Gottlieb’s team, picked last in the Horizon League preseason poll, hopes to improve on last year’s disastrous 4-28 campaign.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
2 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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