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UNFORTUNATE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who suffers misfortune
Synonyms:
unfortunate; unfortunate person
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("unfortunate" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "unfortunate"):
crier; weeper (a person who weeps)
victim (an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance)
subsister; survivor (one who lives through affliction)
diseased person; sick person; sufferer (a person suffering from an illness)
schlimazel; shlimazel ((Yiddish) a very unlucky or inept person who fails at everything)
captive; prisoner (a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war)
have-not; poor person (a person with few or no possessions)
castaway; Ishmael; outcast; pariah (a person who is rejected (from society or home))
nympholept (a person seized by nympholepsy)
griever; lamenter; mourner; sorrower (a person who is feeling grief (as grieving over someone who has died))
maroon (a person who is stranded (as on an island))
failure; loser; nonstarter; unsuccessful person (a person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently)
languisher (a person who languishes)
jinx; jonah (a person believed to bring bad luck to those around him)
Job (any long-suffering person who withstands affliction without despairing)
homeless; homeless person (someone unfortunate without housing)
desperate (a person who is frightened and in need of help)
choker (an unfortunate person who is unable to perform effectively because of nervous tension or agitation)
amputee (someone who has had a limb removed by amputation)
abandoned person (someone for whom hope has been abandoned)
Derivation:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not auspicious; boding ill
Synonyms:
inauspicious; unfortunate
Classified under:
Similar:
unpromising (unlikely to bring about favorable results or enjoyment)
Attribute:
auspiciousness; propitiousness (the favorable quality of strongly indicating a successful result)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Unsuitable or regrettable
Example:
an unfortunate speech
Classified under:
Similar:
infelicitous (not appropriate in application; defective)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune
Example:
an unfortunate night for all concerned
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
abject (most unfortunate or miserable)
black; calamitous; disastrous; fatal; fateful ((of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin)
dispossessed; homeless; roofless (physically or spiritually homeless or deprived of security)
hapless; miserable; misfortunate; pathetic; piteous; pitiable; pitiful; poor; wretched (deserving or inciting pity)
doomed; ill-fated; ill-omened; ill-starred; unlucky (marked by or promising bad fortune)
downtrodden (abused or oppressed by people in power)
infelicitous; unhappy (marked by or producing unhappiness)
regrettable; too bad (deserving regret)
Also:
luckless; unlucky (having or bringing misfortune)
underprivileged (lacking the rights and advantages of other members of society)
unsuccessful (not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome)
Antonym:
fortunate (having unexpected good fortune)
Derivation:
unfortunate (a person who suffers misfortune)
Context examples:
My wife went yesterday to bring my boy at last to the side of his unfortunate father.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This unfortunate affair will, I fear, prevent my sister's having the pleasure of seeing you at Pemberley to-day.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Prendergast then descended into the ’tween-decks and with his own hands cut the throat of the unfortunate surgeon.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The Earth passed another unfortunate milestone May 23 when carbon dioxide surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) at the South Pole for the first time in 4 million years.
(South Pole is last place on Earth to pass global warming milestone, NOAA)
In the mean time, I here conclude the second part of my unfortunate voyages.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
The cases of ammunition and of food were scattered about in a wild litter, together with our unfortunate cameras and plate-carriers, but none of them were missing.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
So did everyone else, even 'Croaker' as the girls called the old lady, and the unfortunate dinner ended gaily, with bread and butter, olives and fun.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
"Sir," I interrupted him, "you are inexorable for that unfortunate lady: you speak of her with hate—with vindictive antipathy. It is cruel—she cannot help being mad."
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
This unfortunate state of affairs has severely impeded treatment development, leaving the many people who suffer from depression with limited options.
(Forty-Four Genomic Variants Linked to Major Depression, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
He thought it a very degrading alliance; and Lady Russell, though with more tempered and pardonable pride, received it as a most unfortunate one.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
