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
All the usual fun Indy stuff is here – Nazis, treasured artifacts – though the bantering chemistry between Ford's hard-luck hero and Sean Connery as his grumpy dad is off-the-hook spectacular.
—
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 20 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
Ava Goodman was the hard-luck loser for West Hills (8-4-1).
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2025
Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a hard-luck guy who has a job that kills him over and over again, getting printed out again after every death.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025
Whether meeting a bad fate while trying to fix the ship or dying several times in vaccine trials (RIP Mickeys 12 to 16) our hard-luck main man navigates it all while being held in contempt by everyone around him besides his steely girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie).
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025
While Michigan State is overwhelmingly likely to clinch the conference regular season title (the Spartans host Penn State this weekend), a sweep by either Ohio State or Minnesota this weekend would wrap up second place, and the right to host hard-luck Notre Dame in round one.
—Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 20 Feb. 2025
While the Chiefs have been consistently strong, with some remarkable good fortune this season and continued horseshoe following them, the Bills have suffered some severe hard-luck losses including to the Chiefs in the recent playoff years.
—Jay Ginsbach, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
And after a hard-luck start to his career, Bateman getting in the end zone has become the ultimate good omen for the Ravens, who will face the Buffalo Bills Sunday night at Highmark Stadium in the AFC divisional round.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 16 Jan. 2025
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 20 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
Ava Goodman was the hard-luck loser for West Hills (8-4-1).
—Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Apr. 2025
Pattinson plays Mickey Barnes, a hard-luck guy who has a job that kills him over and over again, getting printed out again after every death.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2025
Whether meeting a bad fate while trying to fix the ship or dying several times in vaccine trials (RIP Mickeys 12 to 16) our hard-luck main man navigates it all while being held in contempt by everyone around him besides his steely girlfriend Nasha (Naomi Ackie).
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 6 Mar. 2025
While Michigan State is overwhelmingly likely to clinch the conference regular season title (the Spartans host Penn State this weekend), a sweep by either Ohio State or Minnesota this weekend would wrap up second place, and the right to host hard-luck Notre Dame in round one.
—Jess Myers, Twin Cities, 20 Feb. 2025
While the Chiefs have been consistently strong, with some remarkable good fortune this season and continued horseshoe following them, the Bills have suffered some severe hard-luck losses including to the Chiefs in the recent playoff years.
—Jay Ginsbach, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
And after a hard-luck start to his career, Bateman getting in the end zone has become the ultimate good omen for the Ravens, who will face the Buffalo Bills Sunday night at Highmark Stadium in the AFC divisional round.
—Jeff Zrebiec, The Athletic, 16 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hard-luck
Adjective
-
Shakira does appear to be the beneficiary of an unintended consequence stemming from her unfortunate moves.—
Hugh McIntyre,
Forbes.com,
21 June 2025
-
The stern instructor displays a remarkable amount of patience as the student bashes the unfortunate victim against every solid surface in sight — even alien beings capable of traversing the cosmos can have bad days at the office.—
Richard Edwards,
Space.com,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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The root of the fallout was the Who (and specifically Daltrey) being unhappy with Starkey’s performance when the band played a pair of Teenage Cancer Trust charity shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
22 June 2025
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On Friday, Devers alluded to being unhappy with how the Red Sox treated him.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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The hapless president’s parachute gets stuck in a tree and the savvy prime minister gets him down.—
Caryn James,
HollywoodReporter,
27 June 2025
-
The Balloon Boy hoax would seem to have all the right elements for a revisitation: a hapless, alleged victim (6-year-old Falcon Heene), sky-high danger (the balloon reached about 7,000 feet), daringly duplicitous parents (Richard and Mayumi Heene), and a national profile that gripped audiences.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
23 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hard-luck. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.
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