-
- To save this word, you'll need to log in.
hard-luck
adjective
: marked by, relating to, or experiencing bad luck or difficulty
another loss for the team's hard-luck pitcher
hard-luck stories
Synonyms
Examples of hard-luck in a Sentence
a hard-luck ball club that never could get the breaks it needed
Recent Examples on the Web
The aftermath: Fister, a hard-luck 12-30 for Seattle, went 32-20 for the Tigers with a 2.98 postseason ERA.
—Tyler Kepner, The Athletic, 26 July 2024
Ticketed, booted, towed — there are a million hard-luck parking enforcement stories in the naked city.
—Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2024
His latest album, 2023’s Twenty on High, is a revelatory collection of hard-luck stories and working-class resilience.
—Garret K. Woodward, Rolling Stone, 30 July 2024
The rise from an impoverished, dysfunctional upbringing in hard-luck Appalachia to Yale Law School and the U.S. Senate is truly the stuff of political myth-making.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2024
The latest delay was a familiar setback for the hard-luck Starliner, which has suffered a steady stream of frustrating complications since an initial unpiloted test flight in 2019 was derailed by software problems and communications glitches.
—William Harwood, CBS News, 21 May 2024
Head-to-head with Donald Trump Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended his hard-luck campaign just before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, Haley will be going head-to-head with her former boss on Tuesday in the Granite State.
—USA TODAY, 22 Jan. 2024
Horan was the hard-luck shooter of the game, denied multiple times by Musovic and clanking another header off the crossbar.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Aug. 2023
And Rafael Devers has had kind of a hard-luck year, even as he’s been productive.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2023
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.
Word History
First Known Use
1890, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near hard-luck
Cite this Entry
“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hard-luck. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Kids Definition
hard-luck
adjectiveˈhärd-ˌlək
: marked by, relating to, or experiencing bad luck
hard-luck stories
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share