as in unhappy
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
an ill-starred attempt to circumnavigate the earth in a balloon
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-starred
Adjective
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Manchester City 3-1 Bournemouth Sunderland vs Everton David Moyes has not been back on the touchline at the Stadium of Light since his unhappy spell in charge of Sunderland ended in relegation in 2017.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025 -
But if Brown is that unhappy with his status on the team, perhaps moving him would be addition by subtraction, as Florio suggested.—
Robert Marvi,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Thus a wonderful section on The Jew of Malta climaxes in an unfortunate vision of the text as a secret message to Lord Strange, a wealthy and important patron of the arts.—
Isaac Butler,
The Atlantic,
3 Nov. 2025
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Such an event, let alone two within less than an hour of each other, is both unfortunate and potentially very suspicious.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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The Arizona Wildcats clobbered Colorado, 52-17, marking another disastrous defeat for Coach Prime.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
2 Nov. 2025
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Gottlieb’s team, picked last in the Horizon League preseason poll, hopes to improve on last year’s disastrous 4-28 campaign.—
Gary Bedore,
Kansas City Star,
2 Nov. 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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Startups may cast incumbents as hapless Goliaths, but in ranking Europe’s biggest companies, David is nowhere to be seen.—
Adam Gale,
Fortune,
29 Oct. 2025
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The point is, to me, Kuhn’s hapless federal felonies seem a lot less significant than grabbing $7,000 in cash payoffs in the ladies’ room at City Hall.—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
24 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Ill-starred.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-starred. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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