How to use hapless in a sentence
26 example sentences · adjective
Hapless means especially of a person, unfortunate. Example: “The Jayhawks completely whomped on the hapless Nimrods in today's opening-round game.”
Examples of hapless by meaning
adjectiveVery unlucky; ill-fated.
- My dear friend, are you to become that hapless kind of outcast, a champion of lost causes?1914, John Galsworthy, The Mob, act 1
- I can only apologize on behalf of us all, and hope that in spite of chronological errors, you will continue to enjoy the mix of corporate zombies and hapless heroes that make Resident Evil so much fun.2000 October 1, S.D. Perry, Resident Evil: Nemesis (Resident Evil), New York: First Pocket Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 10
- The hapless squad, which was outscored 517-268 in 2008, became the first in league history to go 0-16.2008 December 31, Harriet Barovick, “Detroit The Lost Season”, in Time
adjectiveDevoid of talent or skill.
- In An Adventure With Scientists, about the adventures of a hapless group of pirates known only by names like The Pirate With The Scarf, The Pirate With Gout, and in the case of their leader, The Pirate Captain.2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club
More sentences with hapless
- The Jayhawks completely whomped on the hapless Nimrods in today's opening-round game.From the entry whomp on
- Minutes later, at least two, possibly three, tear the bow off the hapless cruiser Kumano.2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 18:01 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov…. From the entry spread
- It stands for a problem in chair, not in computer error among hapless colleagues.2006 November, Claire Heald, “Let's help to herd the dinosaurs”, in BBC News. From the entry picnic
- Incarcerated in earth-filled boxes, the hapless annelids face execution in the morning.1990 January 4, Pete Dunne, “IN THE NATURAL STATE”, in The New York Times. From the entry annelid
- In one card, I found myself joining the hapless stickwoman in a transparent, rocket-shaped house.1988, John Hildebrand, Reading the River: A Voyage Down the Yukon, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 137. From the entry stickwoman
- “He is come to the town in order to marry a hapless maiden.1987, Tanith Lee, “Children of the Night”, in Night’s Sorceries, Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, page 396. From the entry bemoan
- The bullet zoomed over Butsko's head and whacked in the chest of the hapless soldier who'd been standing behind him.2013, Len Levinson, River of Blood, →ISBN. From the entry colt
- Of late though, the R-word has acquired a dark new meaning with guys leaping out of bushes onto hapless maidens.2009 November 23, “The Indian rape trick”, in The Hindustan Times, New Delhi. From the entry r-word
- Policemen who've grown uhhh, overnourished, by helping themselves to free meals at the expense of hapless carinderia owners.2000 March 15, Philippine Daily Inquirer, page 9. From the entry overnourished
- In 'The Vertical Ladder," a hapless adolescent is flypapered fast in perpetuity, a mean little speck, on the mast of implacability.1996, Gilbert Alter-Gilbert, Life and Limb: Selected Tales of Peril, Predicament, and Dire Distress, page 20. From the entry flypaper
- Among the townspeople, Bob Toven as the hapless Mayor and Teresa Killen as the Betty Boop-ish Marietta help to set the show’s mischievous tone.2022 October 14, Christina Koomen, “Showtimers’ Dracula bites Tombstone”, in The Roanoke Times, volume 70, number 287, page B12, column 2. From the entry Betty Boop-ish
- They had been tipped off not to interfere but let looters and killers teach hapless men, women and children a lesson they would never forget.2017, Khushwant Singh, The End of India. From the entry tamashbeen
- Only Berenger, hapless lover of a drink who wanders town in a state of morning-after dishevelledness, appears immune to the disease overtaking everyone around him.2017 August 10, David Pollock, “Edinburgh Festival, Rhinoceros, Royal Lyceum Theatre, review: 'Far smarter than a one-note topical…. From the entry dishevelledness
- Hapless citizens borrow money from five-six money lenders, e.g. borrowing five thousand and returning six within a month or even a week.2005, Maria Lourdes S. Bautista, Linguistic Society of the Philippines, Linguistics and language education in the Philippines and beyond…. From the entry five-six
- Indeed there are numerous instances during the composition of Finnegans Wake where the hapless typists, confused by Joyce's conventions, misinterpolated additions into the text.1999, Wim van Mierlo, Genitricksling Joyce, page 109. From the entry misinterpolate
- Bonnot found that the "area covered by the bed was three inches deep with feathers, wings, and bodies" of the hapless birds.1990, Owls: their life and behavior : a photographic study of the North. From the entry barnie
- There are elements of low-key black comedy in our hapless hero’s dealing with clinic superiors, who are so clueless that their suspicions fall on entirely the wrong person.2021 June 8, Dennis Harvey, “‘La Dosis’ Review: Slow-Burn Thriller Imagines War Between Angels of Death in an ICU”, in Variety. From the entry slow-burning
- Starring a smarmy dog and scores of hapless flying wildfowl, Duck Hunt was the game that introduced many to the joys of the NES Zapper lightgun.2019, “Ultimate Guide: Duck Hunt”, in Darran Jones, editor, 100 Games to Play Before You Die: Nintendo Consoles Edition (Retro Gamer), 3rd…. From the entry smarmy
- Of course, the kids loved it, even toddlers were heard to garble "I'm a twisted firestarter" while dragging their hapless mums into Woolies to bag a copy.2004, Martin C Strong, The Great Rock Discography. From the entry woolies
- Ward, the language still leaves us with the impression that a showing of complete blamelessness could serve to exonerate the hapless gunhandler who inadvertently injured another.1970, The Origin and Development of the Negligence Action, page 14. From the entry blamelessness
- The highly anticipated proceedings are poised to serve as a tell-all on FTX and Alameda’s shocking downfall, with jurors weighing whether Bankman-Fried callously lined his pockets with hapless investors’ money.2023 September 30, Victoria Bekiempis, “‘Dark’ donations, free love and the fall: the Sam Bankman-Fried trial is here”, in The Guardian…. From the entry tell-all
- "The inability of slow-witted censors to keep up with the implications of fast talk from "ultra-modern slanguists" made for a fun game of hide-and-seek between the hip and the hapless.1999, Thomas Doherty, Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934, Columbia University Press…. From the entry slanguist
Meaning of hapless
- adjective Especially of a person, unfortunate.
- adjective Very unlucky; ill-fated.
- adjective Very miserable, wretched, unhappy, measly, forlorn.
Questions about hapless in a sentence
- How do you use hapless in a sentence?
- Hapless is used as an adjective. For example: “The Jayhawks completely whomped on the hapless Nimrods in today's opening-round game.”
- What is a short sentence with hapless?
- “Incarcerated in earth-filled boxes, the hapless annelids face execution in the morning.”
- What does hapless mean?
- Hapless means especially of a person, unfortunate.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hapless (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use hapless in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/hapless. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
