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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hapless
In a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains, friends likened my outfit to that of Meredith Blake, the hapless fiancée in The Parent Trap.
—
C Pam Zhang,
Travel + Leisure,
11 June 2026
Bargatze likes to be the butt of the joke, casting himself as the hapless but well-meaning dad who can barely keep track of his day-to-day needs.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Cherry plays Gary, a hapless, low-key type of guy who goes on a blind date, to avenge infidelity in his jaded long-term relationship, with the much younger, devil-may-care Ell, played by Borat breakout Maria Bakalova.
—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
4 June 2026
But Faris and Hall, whose hapless BFFs Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks had by then become its A-list faces, continued with Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4 alone.
—
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
C Pam Zhang,
Travel + Leisure,
11 June 2026
Bargatze likes to be the butt of the joke, casting himself as the hapless but well-meaning dad who can barely keep track of his day-to-day needs.
—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Cherry plays Gary, a hapless, low-key type of guy who goes on a blind date, to avenge infidelity in his jaded long-term relationship, with the much younger, devil-may-care Ell, played by Borat breakout Maria Bakalova.
—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
4 June 2026
But Faris and Hall, whose hapless BFFs Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks had by then become its A-list faces, continued with Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4 alone.
—
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for hapless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hapless
Adjective
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As attendees were escorted out of the Great American State Fair on Sunday because of inclement weather, guests noticed an unfortunate typo displayed on a digital billboard at the National Mall.
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They should be trained not to ask a bunch of questions about the medical condition, express doubt, comment that the timing is unfortunate or share private information with co-workers.
Adjective
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The decade was an unhappy panorama of inflation, gas shortages, military humiliation, and revelations of political corruption.
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On Tuesday, Paul urged Americans who are unhappy with the justices’ ruling to support his proposal.
Adjective
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The one in which his tiny team of negotiators surrendered to the radicals ruling that luckless nation.
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Any one of those locations could have allowed the heat of reentry to burn through the aluminum alloy walls of the spacecraft, killing any luckless crew that may have been inside, in much the kind of reentry breakup that doomed the shuttle Columbia and its seven-person crew in 2003.
Adjective
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The last time Rushing caught Ohtani, the pitcher took over pitch-calling after a disastrous second inning against the Twins last week.
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Since his disastrous tenure with the New York Yankees from 2016 to 2022, which included a suspension for violating MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse policy, Chapman has worked to turn around his career.
Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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