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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hard-luck
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
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
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-luck
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
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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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Soon afterward, the White House encouraged a revolt by senior Venezuelan military leaders and other government officials—a hapless, underplanned effort that quickly fell apart.—
Dexter Filkins,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
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And the main thing that Yasmin has in common with her husband—the hapless aristocrat Henry Muck, played by Kit Harington—is their terrible fathers.—
Louis Staples,
Glamour,
12 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
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
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026.
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