EN

Synonyms for unfortunate

  • adjective

Most common

disastrous unlucky regrettable calamitous

All synonyms

Adjective

unlucky, unhappy, regrettable, disastrous, bad, calamitous, miserable, inauspicious, ill, poor, deplorable, hapless, ill-fated, unsuccessful, fatal, pitiable, pathetic, ill-starred, wretched, untoward, luckless, evil

Antonyms

good, lucky, well

All antonyms of unfortunate →

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Not favored by fortune.

Related words

Word family
unfortunately unfortunateness
Other spellings
unfortunant

From weakest to strongest

  1. happy
  2. well
  3. good
  4. unfortunate
  5. disastrous
  6. unlucky
  7. wretched
  8. deplorable
  9. regrettable
  10. untoward

From the opposite of unfortunate, on the left, to its strongest synonyms, on the right.

Example sentences

  • disastrous This can have disastrous results for your career.
  • unlucky It is said that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.
  • regrettable It is regrettable that you did not start earlier.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
unfortunatefalling
disastrousfalling
unluckyrising
regrettablefalling
calamitoussteady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters
bad1, ill1
4 letters
poor1, evil2
5 letters
fatal2
7 letters
unhappy3, unlucky3, hapless2
8 letters
pathetic3, wretched2, untoward3, pitiable4, luckless2
9 letters
miserable4
10 letters
disastrous3, deplorable4, calamitous4
11 letters
regrettable4
12 letters
unsuccessful4, inauspicious4

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (evil2 = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français
infortuné
Italiano
infortunato