Synonyms: unlucky, unfortunate, cursed, unhappy More Synonyms of hapless
hapless in British English
(ˈhæplɪs)
adjective
unfortunate; wretched
Derived forms
haplessly (ˈhaplessly)
adverb
haplessness (ˈhaplessness)
noun
hapless in American English
(ˈhæplɪs)
adjective
unfortunate; unlucky; luckless
Derived forms
haplessly (ˈhaplessly)
adverb
haplessness (ˈhaplessness)
noun
Word origin
hap1 + -less
Examples of 'hapless' in a sentence
hapless
Both were hapless victims of the growing violence of immigrant gangs, according to police.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Who knows what pressure that may bring on a hapless opponent?
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The hapless young romantics do their best as second fiddles.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
But to the public he was a hapless hero.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The hapless dad 's trousers and pants were snagged and wrenched off.
The Sun (2009)
But the hapless dad is not the first ink owner to wish they had invested in a dictionary before branding themselves for life.
The Sun (2015)
They were helpless, hapless victims.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
A knot of blurred bodies suggests a huge, vile spider consuming a hapless victim.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
She is not a hapless victim of anyone else's actions - she makes her own luck.
The Sun (2009)
Our hapless heroes are back - but not in Berkshire.
The Sun (2014)
Yet it is hard not to conclude that there is another factor at work; after all, people are not merely hapless victims of structural trends.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
And he feared that overt papal condemnation might look well, but would close down other options, and would rebound on hapless victims by provoking retaliation.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
In other languages
hapless
British English: hapless ADJECTIVE
A hapless person is unlucky.
...his hapless victim.
American English: hapless
Brazilian Portuguese: desafortunado
Chinese: 不幸的
European Spanish: desventurado
French: malheureux
German: glücklos
Italian: sventurato
Japanese: 不運な
Korean: 불운한
European Portuguese: desafortunado
Latin American Spanish: desventurado
(adjective)
Definition
unlucky
the hapless victim struggled helplessly
Synonyms
unlucky
Argentina's unlucky defeat by Ireland
unfortunate
charity days to raise money for unfortunate people
cursed
The whole family seemed cursed.
unhappy
I have already informed your unhappy father of your expulsion.
miserable
There was nothing in this miserable place to distract him.
jinxed
luckless
the luckless parent of an extremely difficult child
wretched
wretched people living in abject poverty
ill-starred
an ill-starred attempt to create jobs in a deprived area
ill-fated
They are now home after their ill-fated trip abroad.
Additional synonyms
in the sense of cursed
Definition
under a curse
The whole family seemed cursed.
Synonyms
under a curse,
damned,
doomed,
unholy,
jinxed,
bedevilled,
fey (Scottish),
excommunicate,
star-crossed,
accursed,
foredoomed,
unsanctified,
ill-fated
in the sense of ill-fated
Definition
doomed or unlucky
They are now home after their ill-fated trip abroad.
Synonyms
doomed,
unfortunate,
unlucky,
unhappy,
blighted,
hapless,
luckless,
ill-starred,
star-crossed,
ill-omened
in the sense of ill-starred
Definition
very unlucky or unfortunate
an ill-starred attempt to create jobs in a deprived area