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
This competition reality show pits hapless home bakers against one another to complete two challenges per episode.
—
Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Jan. 2026
Throw out the Giants’ win over the hapless Raiders, who basically tanked it by shutting down Maxx Crosby before the game.
—Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 2 Jan. 2026
Moore is coming off one of his best performances of the year, scoring five total touchdowns in a drubbing of a hapless James Madison team.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 31 Dec. 2025
Heat were home to crush hapless Indiana 142-116 Saturday night even with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro again out with injuries.
—Greg Cote
december 28, Miami Herald, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Will Harris, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Jan. 2026
Throw out the Giants’ win over the hapless Raiders, who basically tanked it by shutting down Maxx Crosby before the game.
—Hank Gola, New York Daily News, 2 Jan. 2026
Moore is coming off one of his best performances of the year, scoring five total touchdowns in a drubbing of a hapless James Madison team.
—Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 31 Dec. 2025
Heat were home to crush hapless Indiana 142-116 Saturday night even with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro again out with injuries.
—Greg Cote
december 28, Miami Herald, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
-
Their late concession of the winning penalty to Morgan Gibbs-White, above, was unfortunate.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Many unfortunate events were blamed on poison—the unexpected death of an enslaver or a slave, a spate of local deaths due to a virus or other disease, or problems on the plantation such as ill livestock or bad harvests.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
This is a no-win situation because one of us will end up unhappy.—
Jeanne Phillips,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
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The automaker spent much of the year undoing decisions made by the previous CEO, Carlos Tavares, who resigned at the end of 2024, as stakeholders in the company — from dealers to union rank and file — were upset with him and unhappy with his leadership.—
Liam Rappleye,
USA Today,
8 Jan. 2026
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
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The Chargers’ $262 million man fell to 0-3 in the playoffs, each of those defeats distinctly disastrous.—
Mirjam Swanson,
Oc Register,
13 Jan. 2026
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Purdy, rendered ineffective by a torn ligament in his right elbow on the opening drive against the Eagles in a disastrous NFC title game loss three seasons ago, completed all three passes for 74 yards and capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson.—
Dan Gelston,
Twin Cities,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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