1
as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
the unlucky campers had rain all week I'm so unlucky I don't bother to play the lottery an unlucky throw of the dice
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in tragic
of a kind to cause great distress
the settlers made the unlucky decision to cross the dangerous mountain pass in the middle of winter
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of unlucky
But the scope and breadth of the subpoenas — which demand everything from text messages to bank statements to phone records — has a lot of folks scratching their heads, especially those unlucky enough to have been served one.
—
Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Warmer weather means more mosquitoes, which means more opportunities for unlucky, disease-transmitting bites.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 20 Aug. 2025
Caissie's promotion comes on the heels of an extremely unfortunate and unlucky injury to catcher Miguel Amaya.
—Andrew Wright, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
The Padres did most of their damage against Ray, who got unlucky in the first inning before the game got away from him in the second.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unlucky
Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2025
Warmer weather means more mosquitoes, which means more opportunities for unlucky, disease-transmitting bites.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 20 Aug. 2025
Caissie's promotion comes on the heels of an extremely unfortunate and unlucky injury to catcher Miguel Amaya.
—Andrew Wright, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025
The Padres did most of their damage against Ray, who got unlucky in the first inning before the game got away from him in the second.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unlucky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unlucky
Adjective
-
This was the unfortunate and tragic outcome.—
Rachel Wolf,
FOXNews.com,
9 Sep. 2025
-
This latest ‘oopsie’ also fits an unfortunate pattern.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
9 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
And these are -- these are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Sep. 2025
-
Before Experience Hendrix After Hendrix’s tragic death, production of the guitarist’s music was in the hands of his allegedly exploitative manager, Michael Jeffery who died in a mysterious 1973 plane crash.—
Mike Alleyne Ph.D,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
My research team works hard to keep the email addresses up to date, but executives keep changing their addresses to avoid having to deal with unhappy customers.—
Christopher Elliott,
Mercury News,
10 Sep. 2025
-
But few seemed to leave unhappy.—
Jonathan Hawkins,
CNN Money,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unlucky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unlucky. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share