Synonyms for unlucky
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Unfortunate — unfortunate, marked by misfortune
unfortunate, ill-starred, bad, inauspicious, ill-fated, hapless, poor, calamitous, doomed, disastrous, unpromising, untoward, sinister, ill-omened, ill-boding, unpropitious, infelicitous, dire, unfavorable US, unfavourable UK, ominous, baleful, portentous
2. Luckless
Other
fortuneless dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Unfortunate, marked by misfortune.
- adj. 2
Inauspicious.
Related words
- Word family
- unluckily unluckiness
Example sentences
- unfortunate He has shown remorse for the unfortunate incident.
- hapless The black hole pulls the hapless star into its maw.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| unlucky | rising | |
| unfortunate | falling | |
| hapless | rising | |
| inauspicious | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- bad1
- 4 letters
- poor1, dire1
- 6 letters
- doomed1
- 7 letters
- ominous3, hapless2, baleful2
- 8 letters
- sinister3, untoward3, luckless2
- 10 letters
- disastrous3, calamitous4, portentous3
- 11 letters
- unfortunate4, unfavorable5, unpromising4, fortuneless
- 12 letters
- unsuccessful4, unfavourable, inauspicious4, unpropitious, infelicitous, unprosperous
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (ominous3 = 3 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- malchanceux