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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Recent Examples of hard-luck
Leiter took a hard-luck loss for his gem as the Yankees wrapped up the title.
—
Jayson Stark, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Mikolas suffered a hard-luck setback in his lone meeting with Milwaukee this season.
—Field Level Media, Reuters, 14 Sep. 2025
McConaughey plays hard-luck bus driver Kevin McKay, who's responsible for getting more than 20 kids and their teacher (America Ferrera) home while also worrying about his teenage son Sean.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025
The offensive issues contributed to rookie Yankees starter Will Warren (6-5) suffering a hard-luck loss.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 13 July 2025
The offensive issues contributed to a hard-luck loss for rookie Yankees starter Will Warren, who surrendered a home run to the game’s first batter, Michael Busch, but was otherwise sharp.
—Peter Sblendorio, Hartford Courant, 13 July 2025
The final outs were symbolic of their hard-luck day — including 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position — with Yandy Diaz lacing a 100.6-mph line drive into a double play.
—Marc Topkin, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 June 2025
Royals starter Noah Cameron took a hard-luck loss despite allowing just two runs.
—Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 22 June 2025
May departed with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and was initially in line to be the hard-luck loser of a pitchers’ duel with Burnes, but Hernandez changed that with one swing.
—Kyle Glaser, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Jayson Stark, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025
Mikolas suffered a hard-luck setback in his lone meeting with Milwaukee this season.
—Field Level Media, Reuters, 14 Sep. 2025
McConaughey plays hard-luck bus driver Kevin McKay, who's responsible for getting more than 20 kids and their teacher (America Ferrera) home while also worrying about his teenage son Sean.
—Brian Truitt, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025
The offensive issues contributed to rookie Yankees starter Will Warren (6-5) suffering a hard-luck loss.
—Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 13 July 2025
The offensive issues contributed to a hard-luck loss for rookie Yankees starter Will Warren, who surrendered a home run to the game’s first batter, Michael Busch, but was otherwise sharp.
—Peter Sblendorio, Hartford Courant, 13 July 2025
The final outs were symbolic of their hard-luck day — including 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position — with Yandy Diaz lacing a 100.6-mph line drive into a double play.
—Marc Topkin, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 June 2025
Royals starter Noah Cameron took a hard-luck loss despite allowing just two runs.
—Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 22 June 2025
May departed with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and was initially in line to be the hard-luck loser of a pitchers’ duel with Burnes, but Hernandez changed that with one swing.
—Kyle Glaser, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-luck
Adjective
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All the rest are likely to shine in movies by good directors, and most actors whose reputations aren’t illustriously artistic have mainly been unfortunate in their collaborations.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 Sep. 2025
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Irish butter may now an internationally marketable commodity, but in Swift’s day, the Irish peasantry fought back against their replacement by cattle by maiming and driving the unfortunate cattle off cliffs.—
Matthew Wills,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Smart, much like Georgia’s fan base, is pretty unhappy after yet another loss to Alabama.—
Seth Emerson,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
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While there are reasons to be unhappy with the performance, each win in the NFL is hard to get.—
Evan Massey,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Sep. 2025
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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Or does the breath of the chill foreshadow a grim fate for our engaging, if hapless, hero?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Oct. 2025
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The Grand Guignol gets a Bollywood makeover in Virat Pal’s satirical bloodfest about hapless paparazzi stumbling upon the dark secret behind a beloved Mumbai movie star’s beauty and tireless commitment to her craft.—
A.A. Dowd,
Vulture,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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