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
Both her audition and her callback had fallen flat, but the company must have figured that casting an amateur from hard-luck Butte as Lucetta would make good press.
—
Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
The Oilers went back to Connor Ingram in goal after a hard-luck overtime loss for Tristan Jarry in Game 4.
—Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 29 Apr. 2026
There’s some dark subject matter, and some hard-luck people on the fringes.
—New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
For Coronado, the hard-luck loser was freshman Quinn Smock, who pitched six innings, allowed one unearned run on three hits and struck out seven.
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
But nothing will change the chance that he was denied to celebrate with Team USA in the 2026 Olympics, or the parallels to one of the most famous hard-luck cases in sports history, Ralph Cox.
—Mac Engel
april 21, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 Apr. 2026
Every small room sans closet in New York City requires a stand-alone alternative for surviving a hard-luck storage situation, and even ample hallways can benefit from a dignified wardrobe cabinet as a way to punctuate large spaces.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 17 Mar. 2026
Not after just two injury-riddled, hard-luck seasons.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2026
Pratt offers no prototypical hard-luck origin story.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026
Jonathan Franzen, New Yorker, 1 June 2026
The Oilers went back to Connor Ingram in goal after a hard-luck overtime loss for Tristan Jarry in Game 4.
—Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 29 Apr. 2026
There’s some dark subject matter, and some hard-luck people on the fringes.
—New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
For Coronado, the hard-luck loser was freshman Quinn Smock, who pitched six innings, allowed one unearned run on three hits and struck out seven.
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Apr. 2026
But nothing will change the chance that he was denied to celebrate with Team USA in the 2026 Olympics, or the parallels to one of the most famous hard-luck cases in sports history, Ralph Cox.
—Mac Engel
april 21, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 Apr. 2026
Every small room sans closet in New York City requires a stand-alone alternative for surviving a hard-luck storage situation, and even ample hallways can benefit from a dignified wardrobe cabinet as a way to punctuate large spaces.
—Julia Harrison, Architectural Digest, 17 Mar. 2026
Not after just two injury-riddled, hard-luck seasons.
—Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2026
Pratt offers no prototypical hard-luck origin story.
—Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-luck
Adjective
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The timing is particularly unfortunate given the matchup awaiting the Knicks.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
29 May 2026
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While loud sounds won’t cause flat cakes, there are reasons for this unfortunate outcome.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
29 May 2026
Adjective
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What’s leaving one unhappy child at home compared to sending five hundred people home from the theatre happy?—
Deborah Treisman,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
-
Shohei Ohtani almost became the most unhappy pitcher to ever be part of throwing a no-hitter.—
Bill Plunkett,
Oc Register,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
Among the historic attractions dotting Route 66, there may be none more hapless and ill fated as the Aztec Hotel in Monrovia.—
Assistant Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
30 May 2026
-
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
Adjective
-
The study, published on May 31, highlights an ongoing trend toward wildfires becoming increasingly extreme, costly, and disastrous — both economically and in lives lost.—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
31 May 2026
-
Leigh Ann, boy, so striking to hear the former first lady talk about that disastrous debate performance.—
NBC news,
NBC news,
31 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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