as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
the hapless motorist had barely paid his bill and driven away from the body shop when a truck sideswiped his car
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Recent Examples of hapless
Heat were home to crush hapless Indiana 142-116 Saturday night even with Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro again out with injuries.
—
Greg Cote
december 28, Miami Herald, 28 Dec. 2025
Rashid Shaheed returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, Seattle's defense came up with three turnovers and the Seahawks won for the seventh time in eight games, beating the hapless Atlanta Falcons 37-9 on Sunday.
—CBS News, 7 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, hapless detective Nam-hyuk blunders into the chaos while scheming his own plan.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 1 Dec. 2025
Two of the league's most hapless and injury-riddled squads are apparently eyeing an influx of athleticism and upside in a possible blockbuster trade.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
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Their late concession of the winning penalty to Morgan Gibbs-White, above, was unfortunate.—
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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.—
Adjective
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This is a no-win situation because one of us will end up unhappy.—
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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.—
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.—
Adjective
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The spotlight increased after a disastrous interview with CBS to promote the legendary coach’s book.—
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Second goal breaks Charlotte’s back The second half opened with a disastrous sequence for Charlotte.—
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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