unfortunate

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adjective

un·for·tu·nate

ˌən-ˈfȯrch-nət,

-ˈfȯr-chə-

Synonyms of unfortunate next

: not favored by fortune : unsuccessful, unlucky

an unfortunate young man

: marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune

an unfortunate decision

: infelicitous, unsuitable

an unfortunate choice of words

: deplorable, regrettable

an unfortunate lack of taste

unfortunate

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Example Sentences

Adjective She was unfortunate enough to have been chosen as an example. an unfortunate chain of events It's unfortunate that he couldn't be here for your birthday. He has an unfortunate tendency to show up late. an unfortunate choice of words Noun a group of poor unfortunates See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Cramps are an unfortunate, but normal, symptom before or during a menstrual cycle. —

Madison Alcedo, Health, 25 Apr. 2023 This revelation only made frontman Matty Healy’s appearance on The Adam Freidland Show a week later even more unfortunate. —

Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2023 This is unfortunate, said Justin Doyle, a member of the city’s Urban Design Committee, who used to bring visitors up to the deck or simply meet his wife there for occasional lunches at one of the picnic tables. —

Alec Macgillis, ProPublica, 14 Apr. 2023 And this is unfortunate. —

ABC News, 9 Apr. 2023 That’s so unfortunate. —

Teri Williams, Fortune, 31 Mar. 2023 That’s unfortunate, say the EU Greens, but nevertheless the ban must be done, to avert the existential threat posed by climate change. —

Robert Zubrin, National Review, 30 Mar. 2023 In many ways, all of them unfortunate, it could be considered the song of the 2010s. —

Peter Rubin, Longreads, 29 Mar. 2023 Organized crime in e house of our country is very unfortunate. —

Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 22 Mar. 2023

Noun

Of the remaining unfortunates, those who have dodged the plague appear likely to end up swinging from a noose — many is the tree, bridge and crumbling building that bears such strange fruit. —

Jessica Kiang, Variety, 18 Feb. 2023 The unfortunate would have been shipped off to a slow death among millions of other victims of Soviet purges. —

Sam Kiley, CNN, 30 Oct. 2021 One unfortunate fled to China, only to be arrested and sent home, whereupon he was promptly dispatched to a camp. —

The Economist, 13 Mar. 2021 The film's title is a shape representing the meeting point between the physical world and the one beyond; hairy, patient moths seem to hold the souls of some unfortunates, though why some people meet this fate is unclear. —

John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 July 2019 Our family name, Ramirez, is the same name of these unfortunates who did not make it across the river. —

Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 30 June 2019 But that gentle slope has been known to cause strollers and wheelchairs to roll off as well, not to mention the intoxicated, the disoriented, wrestlers, and other unfortunates. —

William Finnegan, The New Yorker, 2 July 2018 These unfortunates spent hours each day chewing tough roots, choking down leaves and stems, munching on tiny berries and gorging on rare windfalls of meat, bone marrow and worms. —

Nathan H. Lents, WSJ, 13 Apr. 2018 As the threads of society break down, the poor unfortunates who survived the initial barrage don't so much live as merely exist in the post-apocalyptic ruins. —

Peter Bright, Ars Technica, 25 Jan. 2018 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unfortunate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.