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

• bad
• blue
• brokenhearted
• cast down
• crestfallen
• dejected
• depressed
• despondent
• disconsolate
• doleful
• down
• down in the mouth
• downcast
• downhearted
• droopy
• forlorn
• gloomy
• glum
• hangdog
• heartbroken
• heartsick
• heartsore
• heavyhearted
• inconsolable
• joyless
• low
• low-spirited
• melancholic
• melancholy
• miserable
• mournful
• sad
• saddened
• sorrowful
• sorry
• woebegone
• woeful
• wretched

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

By late Thursday morning, Microsoft’s stock was down more than 4%, with investors likely unhappy with the company’s revenue guidance for the next quarter. —Megan Poinski, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Regardless of how the cyberattack was carried out, the result was unhappy soldiers—and a risk to Maduro’s grip on power. —Zach Dorfman, WIRED, 31 Oct. 2024

Vance spent the late Obama years as an unhappy junior associate at a Washington law firm, and then as a principal at a venture-capital fund co-founded by Thiel. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2024

At the same time, Fix the Court has been unhappy with the public having more information about its own finances. —Gabe Kaminsky, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 25 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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