Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use unfortunate in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Unfortunate means not favored by fortune. Example: “It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and he did not intend it that way.”

Examples of unfortunate by meaning

adjectiveNot favored by fortune.

  • Thus ended the life of one of the most unfortunate of small railway concerns.1958 June, John Marshall, “The Forest of Dean Central Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 422

nounAn unlucky person; one who has fallen into bad circumstances.

  • Unlike the unfortunates aboard the Triumph, we viewers are in and out of the situation in under an hour and feel like we have had quite a lot of fun in the process.2026 June 24, Lucy Mangan, “Poop Cruise review – a fascinating look at a toilet disaster that still haunts passengers 12 years later”, in...

More sentences with unfortunate

  • It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and he did not intend it that way.From the entry slip of the tongue
  • The puppy was an affectionate nuzzler, which was unfortunate as I was wearing a black suit.From the entry nuzzler
  • This led to an unfortunate chain of events.From the entry chain
  • The faulty wiring caused the unfortunate worker’s accidental electrocution.From the entry electrocution
  • The undertrained zookeeper met with an unfortunate fate.From the entry undertrained
  • But if you really insist she'll retell the unfortunate case of a man named Sean Doyle.2025 February 8, Brenna Cooper, “Medical examiner reveals worst death she has seen is the case of man who was thrown down a manhole into…. From the entry retell
  • “The athleisure and the dogs are taking over, and that’s really unfortunate,” Sevigny said.2024 February 2, Alaina Demopoulos, quoting Chloë Sevigny, “‘I’m annoying, to some degree’: New York’s dog owners debate Chloë Sevigny’s…. From the entry athleisure
  • I’ve never even done a ‘skeet’, the unfortunate name of the Bluesky version.2023 July 22, Max Chafkin, “What if the next big social media app is ... Nothing?”, in Irish Examiner, Cork. From the entry skeet
  • In it, a group of humans put on a play about this unfortunate pair.2020, Christina Bauer, Pixieland Diaries: Book 1 of the Pixieland Diaries, Monster House Books, →ISBN. From the entry headless horsewoman
  • Margaret is in the drawing room, thumping the life from some unfortunate sonata.2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 36. From the entry pianiste
  • Those unfortunate herrings notwithstanding, other companies have found success with kosher-for-Passover bagels, pizza, croutons — and bacon.2017 April 7, Joanne Kaufman, “The Witty and Weird of Passover Products (Matzo Print Attire, No Less)”, in New York Times. From the entry facon
  • Qian’s home village, insist that the photographs show nothing more than an unfortunate traffic accident.2010 December 28, Xiyun Yang, Edward Wong, “Suspicious Death Ignites Fury in China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from…. From the entry Yueqing
  • Or would this morning's chain of unfortunate events finally catch up with them?2008, Charles W. Sasser, God in the Foxhole: Inspiring True Stories of Miracles on the Battlefield, New York, N.Y.: Threshold Editions…. From the entry brazen
  • This is unfortunate, because it seems to have led to the avoidance of watertanks in general.2008, Phil Cheney, Andrew Sullivan, “Safety: myths, facts and fallacies”, in Grassfires: Fuel, Weather and Fire Behaviour, 2nd edition…. From the entry watertank
  • Its an unfortunate name for people who are not familiar with the genre because it is deceiving.2000 January 11, Brian Robinson, “Diablo *is* an RPG”, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026. From the entry roguelike
  • It is tremendously important to study basilectal speech, but this valorization process has had some unfortunate byproducts.1996, James E. Alatis, Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics, →ISBN. From the entry basilectal
  • I am denouncing the unfortunate fact that people who are learned will use the Heter of R.1994 July 23, YOSEF_KAZEN, “Why are Hasidim speaking for all Orthodox?”, in soc.culture.jewish (Usenet). From the entry chalav yisrael
  • It is unfortunate that some feminists have again thrown in their lot with the puritans and busybodies.1984 February 4, Joe Peacott, “Self-Reliance, Not Censorship”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 28, page 7. From the entry throw in one's lot with
  • One unfortunate aspect of this is the tendency of social workers to engage in pseudo-analytical therapy.1955, Leo P. Chall, Sociological Abstracts - Volumes 3-4, page 165. From the entry pseudo-analytical
  • It is unfortunate that the bimeter cannot be used in dentulous cases.1951, Jerome Meyer, Oral Rehabilitation, page 528. From the entry bimeter
  • One type of water fear harbored by many youngsters is directly traceable to an unfortunate childhood experience.1947, The Journal of Health and Physical Education, volume 18, page 304. From the entry water fear
  • The unfortunate Divisional Director, responsible for the Emperor's safety, shot himself.1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252. From the entry shoot
  • The caipora calls out to the unfortunate person and leads him further and further astray.1942, Donald Pierson, Negroes in Brazil: A Study of Race Contact at Bahia, page 262. From the entry caipora
  • "For instance, 'The beer is never clear round here, dear' is unfortunate, even as an assonance.'"1938, T.H. White, chapter 12, in The Sword in the Stone, Collins. From the entry assonance
  • The hundred and forty-six unfortunate prisoners were crushed into the narrow space.1931, Annie Besant, “Conquest and Tyranny”, in England, India, and Afghanistan: And the Story of Afghanistan or Why the Tory Government…. From the entry sultry
  • Nor did the exterior of the house do much to remove the unfortunate impression.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry defaulter
  • "But it is unfortunate—you find me at the moment—" and he stopped short and coughed.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page…. From the entry cough
  • "This has been an unfortunate thing — these words over this play.1914, Charles McEvoy, Private Affairs, page 265. From the entry underbreath
  • An unfortunate quarrel between our pepperpots marked the outset of our new stage.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC. From the entry pepper pot
  • "Unfortunate situation," she replied, making an effort to moderate her superciliousness to mere condescension."1911, Robert Ames Bennet, Out of the Primitive. From the entry condescension
  • Most of those unfortunate women are the victims of religious dementia.1903 February 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 3, column 4. From the entry tea fight
  • How peculiarly unfortunate that I should have expended so much effort learning navigation and then have B.1903 May 10, Rupert Hughes, “Good Reading for Boys and Girls: The Cruise of the Lakerimmers”, in Clark Howell, editor, The Atlanta…. From the entry mysteriosity
  • Coastal cities across the MEASA region face a future where climate-induced risks are no longer distant threats but unfortunate present realities.2025 August, Jana Ahmed Kamel, “Silicon Sands & Swahili Shores: Coastal Climate Adaptation in Lusail City and Stone Town”, in COP30…. From the entry MEASA
  • It’s unfortunate that the court has overturned his conviction.2024 April 27, Maya Yang, quoting Rosanna Arquette, “Disgraced former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalized”, in The Observer…. From the entry overturn
  • Admittedly, these unfortunate folks make up a small percentage of the waffle-stomping multitudes, but the dangers are very real.2022 September 12, Andy Zahn, “I became a cyborg backpacker, and it completely changed my hiking experience”, in Digital Trends. From the entry waffle-stomp
  • The Gaylors refer to this as the "Hetlor" thesis (Hetlor being a deeply unfortunate portmanteau of heterosexual and Taylor).[2022 October 31, Joe Packer, “How Gaylor Swift conspiracists think like QAnoners”, in Salon.com, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2023. From the entry Hetlor
  • Zero Covid is an unfortunate term for a policy target.2021 January 24, Colm McCarthy, “Endless trade-off between lives and livelihoods won't win war on Covid”, in Sunday Independent, Dublin…. From the entry zero COVID
  • In fact, the unfortunate female is rendered sterile.2019 January 27, Tanya Loos, “Unravelling the Secrets of Satyrisation”, in Cosmos: The Science of Everything, Adelaide, S.A.: Royal…. From the entry satyrization

Meaning of unfortunate

  1. adjective Not favored by fortune.
  2. adjective Marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune.
  3. adjective Regrettable or unsuitable.

Full definition of unfortunate

Questions about unfortunate in a sentence

How do you use unfortunate in a sentence?
Unfortunate is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and he did not intend it that way.”
What is a short sentence with unfortunate?
“In fact, the unfortunate female is rendered sterile.”
What does unfortunate mean?
Unfortunate means not favored by fortune.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unfortunate (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 unfortunate in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/unfortunate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.