as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
a hard-luck ball club that never could get the breaks it needed
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hard-luck
The sudden ascent to stardom of freshman Alijah Arenas has injected new hope into a hard-luck season.
—
Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2026
Pratt offers no prototypical hard-luck origin story.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026
Slot bemoaned the fine margins but there have been far too many hard-luck stories.
—James Pearce, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Burford has stepped in nicely for hard-luck left guard Ben Bartch.
—Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 20 Dec. 2025
And so UMass is doing what many hard-luck gamblers have done before: double down.
—Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 24 Nov. 2025
The latter more than held his own, though, allowing four hits and three runs across 6 2/3 innings before leaving as the hard-luck loser.
—Joe Kozlowski, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2025
The two formerly hard-luck performers, each previously divorced with children, blended their families and achieved enough professional success to open for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder in Milwaukee.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 27 Oct. 2025
Mikolas suffered a hard-luck setback in his lone meeting with Milwaukee this season.
—Field Level Media, Reuters, 14 Sep. 2025
Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2026
Pratt offers no prototypical hard-luck origin story.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026
Slot bemoaned the fine margins but there have been far too many hard-luck stories.
—James Pearce, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2026
Burford has stepped in nicely for hard-luck left guard Ben Bartch.
—Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 20 Dec. 2025
And so UMass is doing what many hard-luck gamblers have done before: double down.
—Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 24 Nov. 2025
The latter more than held his own, though, allowing four hits and three runs across 6 2/3 innings before leaving as the hard-luck loser.
—Joe Kozlowski, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2025
The two formerly hard-luck performers, each previously divorced with children, blended their families and achieved enough professional success to open for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder in Milwaukee.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 27 Oct. 2025
Mikolas suffered a hard-luck setback in his lone meeting with Milwaukee this season.
—Field Level Media, Reuters, 14 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-luck
Adjective
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With so much experience playing Head, Claassen is easily able to improvise in the moment answering random questions, cracking jokes and exchanging repartee with audience members, like the unfortunate man in row B who dared to show up at the theater on Friday in a casual sweatshirt.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Feb. 2026
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Ben Jaggers finds motivation from an unfortunate disqualification that stifled his bid for a medal last year.—
Rick Cantu,
Austin American Statesman,
21 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Incensed, Oseguera plotted revenge in 2009 and 2010 with others who were unhappy with Milenio’s new leadership and spearheaded a deadly coup.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
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Last summer, the city also confirmed that since Crow Tow took over vehicle releases from the Police Department, no appeals hearings had been held for anyone unhappy with impounding or the prices the company charges.—
Lee Rood,
Des Moines Register,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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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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Five goals down at half-time, the Azerbaijani champions were hapless and guileless, incapable of delaying or deflecting Gordon’s acceleration and utterly without attacking merit until the game was yanked far beyond them.—
George Caulkin,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2026
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In the film, O’Hara’s Cookie and her hapless husband, Gerry (played by Eugene Levy), own a Norwich terrier named Winky who is competing for best in show.—
Michaela Zee,
Variety,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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After a disastrous White House meeting a year ago, Zelenskyy has adopted a more practical negotiating stance, emphasizing Ukraine’s goodwill.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
22 Feb. 2026
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Just five months later, Kipnuk was among several villages hit by disastrous storm surge and flooding when Typhoon Halong battered the remote Alaskan coast in October 2025.—
Dinah Voyles Pulver,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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