unhappy

adjective

un·​hap·​py ˌən-ˈha-pē 

1

: not fortunate : unlucky

an unhappy coincidence

2

: not cheerful or glad : sad, wretched

3

a

: causing or subject to misfortune : inauspicious

b

: infelicitous, inappropriate

an unhappy choice

unhappiness noun

Synonyms

• bad
• blue
• brokenhearted
• cast down
• crestfallen
• dejected
• depressed
• despondent
• disconsolate
• doleful
• down
• down in the mouth
• downcast
• downhearted
• droopy
• forlorn
• gloomy
• glum
• hangdog
• heartbroken
• heartsick
• heartsore
• heavyhearted
• inconsolable
• joyless
• low
• low-spirited
• melancholic
• melancholy
• miserable
• mournful
• sad
• saddened
• sorrowful
• sorry
• woebegone
• woeful
• wretched

Examples of unhappy in a Sentence

I can see that he's unhappy, but I don't know why.

I've never seen her looking so unhappy.

For three unhappy days we were all stuck in the house because of the blizzard.

an unhappy choice of career

The movie's hero meets an unhappy fate.

Recent Examples on the Web

Some artists and publishers are unhappy with the way their content is being scraped freely by companies like OpenAI and Google to train their large language models — AI models trained on huge quantities of data to generate humanlike responses. —Ryan Browne, CNBC, 17 Dec. 2024

Cronin — who had to cancel some summer shows this year due to unspecified health issues — further acknowledges that there’s acrimony between he and Hall, and he’s been unhappy with some of the social media discourse blaming him for the end of the REO Speedwagon name. —Gary Graff, Billboard, 16 Dec. 2024

In her lead debut, Reese Witherspoon's niece, Abby James Witherspoon, plays Izzy, a young girl unhappy about her family's move from the bustling city to a sleepy old country farm. —Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024

Perception is everything Why exactly are so many older-gen leaders unhappy with Gen Z’s performance thus far in the workplace? —Mark C. Perna, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

unhappy

adjective

un·​hap·​py ˌən-ˈhap-ē 

1

: not fortunate : unlucky

an unhappy mistake

2

: not cheerful : sad

3

: inappropriate

an unhappy color combination

unhappily

-ˈhap-ə-lē

adverb

unhappiness

-ˈhap-i-nəs

noun