Synonyms of hapless

hapless

adjective

ˈha-pləs 

as in unfortunate

having, prone to, or marked by bad luck

the hapless motorist had barely paid his bill and driven away from the body shop when a truck sideswiped his car

Synonyms & Similar Words

• unfortunate
• unhappy
• luckless
• disastrous
• hard-luck
• unlucky
• unfavorable
• doomed
• ill-fated
• adverse
• snakebitten
• ill-starred
• tragic
• star-crossed
• tragical
• damned
• jinxed
• snakebit
• catastrophic
• inauspicious
• unpromising
• calamitous
• ill
• accursed
• untoward
• accurst

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• happy
• lucky
• fortunate
• gifted
• privileged
• favored
• favorable
• promising
• golden
• fair
• blessed
• blest
• propitious
• auspicious

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of hapless

This was a third defeat out of four in that, with the only victory coming against hapless Southampton. —George Caulkin, The Athletic, 15 Feb. 2025

But just as endlessly funding the PA with few strings attached did not produce success, so, too, did unconditional support for the hapless Lebanese military, which wasted a fortune while Hezbollah only grew stronger. —Elliott Abrams, Foreign Affairs, 7 Feb. 2025

Doc and Zoe, two hapless kidnappers, have only one job: to deliver a hostage to Fritz, a high-ranking corrupt police inspector operating a for-ransom kidnapping mill. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 5 Feb. 2025

Final Destination was among the bleakest genre developments, locking its hapless teens into intractable fates, their foe the unknowable specter of death itself. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 4 Feb. 2025

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