as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
a luckless team with the worst record in the league
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Recent Examples of luckless
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
Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for luckless
Adjective
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Celta’s experienced striker Borja Iglesias equalized for the home side with his third goal in four games after 25 minutes, and strike partner Iago Aspas was unfortunate to see his shot come back off the post with two minutes remaining as both sides pushed for a winner.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
6 Mar. 2026
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This time round, though, an unfortunate silliness sometimes creeps in, where the film risks tipping over Shakespearean-size emotions into embarrassing bathos.—
Miriam Balanescu,
IndieWire,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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MacFarlane is also said to have faced personal threats from MAGA supporters unhappy with his coverage of the Justice Department.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
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Earlier this season, Marchment struggled mightily — and seemed plenty unhappy — with the Seattle Kraken, but his trade to the Blue Jackets in late December revitalized his season.—
Harman Dayal,
New York Times,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In fact, the obsequious Barack Obama and the hapless Joe Biden helped Iran by sending in plane loads of cash to the murdering mullahs in exchange for nothing.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
7 Mar. 2026
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The result has been a bloodbath in the state of Sinaloa, with thousands killed, thousands more missing and the violence reaching such heights that the Mexican government looks hopeless, if not hapless.—
Daniel DePetris,
Mercury News,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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And as someone who has done this a long time, Musselman understands that the responsibility for the team’s disastrous stretch run ultimately falls squarely on his shoulders.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
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Noem’s dissmissal comes after she was berated by lawmakers on Capitol Hill over a series of disastrous blunders by her department, including the killings of two American citizens by border patrol agents in Minneapolis and apparent attempts by DHS to stifle investigations into the shootings.—
Emily Zemler,
Rolling Stone,
6 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The race began to go off the rails when the frontrunners were still about 13 unlucky minutes away from the fateful intersection.—
Kevin Dotson,
CNN Money,
4 Mar. 2026
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There were also underlying metrics that pointed to Grichuk perhaps being a bit unlucky last season.—
Brendan Kuty,
New York Times,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Not after just two injury-riddled, hard-luck seasons.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
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Pratt offers no prototypical hard-luck origin story.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Luckless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/luckless. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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