hapless

adjective

hap·less ˈha-pləs

Synonyms of hapless next

: having no luck : unfortunate

tale of a hapless sailor

hapless beings caught in the grip of forces we can do little about—

W. H. Whyte

haplessly adverb

haplessness noun

Did you know?

Hapless literally means what you'd expect it to mean: "without hap"—hap being another word for fortune or luck. Hap derives from the Old Norse word for "good luck," a word that is also the source of our happen and happy. English has several words to describe those lacking good fortune, including ill-starred, ill-fated, unlucky, and luckless, a word formed in parallel to hapless by adding the suffix -less. Ill-starred suggests bringing calamity or the threat of a terrible fate ("the ill-starred year the Great Depression began"). Ill-fated refers only to being doomed ("the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic"). Unlucky and luckless usually apply to a person or thing notably or chronically unfortunate ("an unlucky slots player," "some luckless investors swindled in the deal").

Examples of hapless in a Sentence

She plays the hapless heroine who is unlucky in love. the hapless motorist had barely paid his bill and driven away from the body shop when a truck sideswiped his car

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

But Ivanka, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, playing hapless heroine who finally gets her due? —

Sam Reed, Glamour, 21 Jan. 2025 The slapstick finale has all the Universal Monsters going at it, with a hapless Chick and Wilbur trying to escape in one piece. —

Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025 In Danny Boyle’s marvelously unhinged 1997 lovers-on-the-lam confection A Life Less Ordinary, Diaz plays Celine, an heiress who’s kidnapped by a hapless janitor, Ewan McGregor’s Robert. —

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025 Barca came roaring out of the traps following the interval, with Raphinha scoring his second of the night upon cleverly dribbling on the other side of a set of hapless white shirts to make it 5-1. —

Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for hapless