as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
a hard-luck ball club that never could get the breaks it needed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hard-luck
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
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
Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 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
-
The interviews themselves are informative, but unobtrusive, and the while intimate footage of Frazier and Reynolds’ personal lives paints a slightly wider picture of their circumstances, their moods in the aftermath of their unfortunate digital breakthroughs is kept largely at an arm’s length.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
14 Mar. 2026
-
Juicy is in the unfortunate position of following Jane.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
14 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The post got 22,000 views, including from unhappy folks living next to data centers, but no helpful information.—
Denise Crosby,
Chicago Tribune,
15 Mar. 2026
-
Against this backdrop, the unhappy Angine shops compulsively in a department store and develops a fascination with a playful salesgirl.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
15 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
So even if Willis and the defense flop this season, Miami still be positioned to land one of those QBs without going into this season trying to lose like, well, the hapless Washington Wizards.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
14 Mar. 2026
-
Only the impassioned importuning of the Jewish Queen Esther persuaded her husband, the hapless King Ahaseurus, to thwart Haman’s plans and eliminate the threat to the Jewish people.—
Michael M. Rosen,
The Washington Examiner,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Each hot run was countered by a disastrous stretch for seemingly everyone.—
Gabby Herzig,
New York Times,
15 Mar. 2026
-
But two disastrous seasons followed that campaign, with the Hurricanes going a combined 22-41 in 2023-24 and 2024-25.—
Adam Lichtenstein,
Sun Sentinel,
15 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
