unfortunate
Syllables: un·for·tu·nate/ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/US/ʌnˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt/
unfortunate adjective: not favored by fortune.
Adjective
unfortunate (comparative more unfortunate, superlative most unfortunate)
- Not 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
- Synonyms:
- unsuccessful
- Antonyms:
- fortunate
- Marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune.
- But as the tower and towee reached the cross-roads again, another car, negligently driven, came round the corner, hit the Morris, and severed the tow rope, sending the unfortunate car back again into the shop window[…]1933, Henry Sturmey, H. Walter Staner, The Autocar
- Synonyms:
- unlucky
- Regrettable or unsuitable.
Noun
unfortunate (plural unfortunates)
- An unlucky person; one who has fallen into bad circumstances.
- Of those adults who used the trains every day, about half now travel daily by bus, [...] one unfortunate is reported to be walking to and from his employment.1960 February, “Talking of Trains: Moretonhampstead - a p.s.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 73
- 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 The Guardian
- A prostitute.
unfortunate meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
unfortunate in Hindi
- not favored by fortune
- अभागा abhāgā
- marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune
- अभागा abhāgā
unfortunate in Marathi
- marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune
- दुर्दैवी durdaivī
unfortunate in Urdu
- unfortunate, unlucky, miserable
- کمبخت kambaxt
- unfortunate, unlucky
- منحوس manhūs
- unfortunate; wretched; miserable
- محروم mahrūm
unfortunate in Bengali
- unfortunate, inauspicious, unpropitious
- রিষ্ট riśṭô
More languagesFewer languages
- unfortunate in Malayalam
- ദൗർഭാഗ്യം dauṟbhāgyaṁ
- unfortunate in Kannada
- ಸಯ್ಪುಕೆಟ್ಟ, ತಕ್ಕುದಲ್ಲದ, ಅದೃಷ್ಟಹೀನ, ದುರದೃಷ್ಟಕರ
- unfortunate in Punjabi
- ਚੰਦਰਾ candrā
- unfortunate in Gujarati
- બિચારું bicārũ
- unfortunate in Assamese
- বেচেৰা besera
- unfortunate in Nepali
- बिचरा bicarā
- unfortunate in Vietnamese
- đáng tiếc
Examples of unfortunate in a sentence
- It was an unfortunate slip of the tongue, and he did not intend it that way.
- The puppy was an affectionate nuzzler, which was unfortunate as I was wearing a black suit.
- This led to an unfortunate chain of events.
Synonyms of unfortunate
Antonyms
Forms of unfortunate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more unfortunate |
| superlative | most unfortunate |
| Noun | |
| plural | unfortunates |
Origin of unfortunate
From un- + fortunate, doublet of infortunate.
Words formed from unfortunate
Questions about unfortunate
- What does unfortunate mean?
- Unfortunate means not favored by fortune.
- What is unfortunate in Hindi?
- Unfortunate in Hindi is अभागा (abhāgā). See Unfortunate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is unfortunate?
- Unfortunate can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce unfortunate?
- Unfortunate is pronounced /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/ (UK).
Words near unfortunate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unfortunate (page history and authors); محروم (Urdu) (page history and authors); রিষ্ট (Bengali) (page history and authors); unfortunate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਚੰਦਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); બિચારું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); বেচেৰা (Assamese) (page history and authors); बिचरा (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-unfortunate.wav.
Cite this entry: “unfortunate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unfortunate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.