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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Recent Examples of hapless
Narayan’s bittersweet love story about a hapless painter’s crush on an emotionally distant social worker has lost none of its humor, relevance, or unconventionality.
—
The Week Us, TheWeek, 27 May 2026
That lucky break means Katie’s cute but hapless husband, Nate Wilcox (Bargatze), suddenly has to step back from his role as Salesman of the Year at a local Toyota dealership, too.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 27 May 2026
Standing at 6 feet 8 inches in heels, Evans towers above cast members including Stephanie Hsu, Juliette Lewis, Harvey Guillén and more, as the mad scientist and head of a paranormal household that has welcomed in two hapless strangers during a rainstorm.
—Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 26 May 2026
Chicago is riding a five-game losing streak as the hapless Astros come to town for the holiday weekend.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
The Week Us, TheWeek, 27 May 2026
That lucky break means Katie’s cute but hapless husband, Nate Wilcox (Bargatze), suddenly has to step back from his role as Salesman of the Year at a local Toyota dealership, too.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 27 May 2026
Standing at 6 feet 8 inches in heels, Evans towers above cast members including Stephanie Hsu, Juliette Lewis, Harvey Guillén and more, as the mad scientist and head of a paranormal household that has welcomed in two hapless strangers during a rainstorm.
—Caitlin Huston, HollywoodReporter, 26 May 2026
Chicago is riding a five-game losing streak as the hapless Astros come to town for the holiday weekend.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 22 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
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There’s no question that this unfortunate cocktail of corruption, inefficiency, and simple incompetence is holding the country back.—
Daniel Alarcón,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
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Unfortunately, going cold turkey off a central nervous system depressant like GHB has some pretty unfortunate side-effects.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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Carting around unhappy campers in 100-degree weather and squeezing work into a shorter window is not exactly being poolside with a marg.—
Abby McCloskey,
Twin Cities,
4 June 2026
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Mansfield city hall a point of contention Melissa Perez, who ultimately lost to Simmons in last year’s council race, is one of those unhappy with Mansfield’s leadership and its direction.—
Matthew Adams,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
4 June 2026
Adjective
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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.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
11 Apr. 2026
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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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Caitlin Clark was part of another disastrous collapse on Saturday night, as the Indiana Fever blew a double-digit lead to the New York Liberty.—
Jackson Thompson OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
7 June 2026
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At that pace, even a tiny micrometeoroid has the ability to impart a significant kinetic blow upon striking a spacecraft en route to the moon, with potentially disastrous results for the astronaut crew inside.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
7 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 13 Jun. 2026.
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