unfortunate

unfortunate

English

Etymology

un- +‎ fortunate

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔːtjʊnət/, /ʌnˈfɔːt͡ʃənət/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈfɔɹt͡ʃənɪt/
• Hyphenation: un‧for‧tu‧nate

Adjective

unfortunate (comparative more unfortunate, superlative most unfortunate)

1. not favored by fortune

   Synonym: unsuccessful

   Antonym: fortunate

2. marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune

   Synonym: unlucky

   Antonyms: fortunate, lucky

Derived terms

• unfortunately

Translations

not favored by fortune

Armenian: դժբախտ (hy) (džbaxt), ձախորդ (hy) (jaxord) Bulgarian: нещастен (bg) (neštasten) Catalan: desafortunat (ca) Danish: uheldig, ulykkelig Dutch: onfortuinlijk (nl) Faroese: óskepnuligur, eydnuleysur, vanlukkuligur Finnish: onneton (fi), epäonninen (fi) French: infortuné (fr) Galician: desafortunado German: unglücklich (de), unglückselig (de) Greek: άμοιρος (el) (ámoiros) Ancient: δυστυχής (dustukhḗs), ἀτυχής (atukhḗs) Ido: desfortunoza (io) Irish: mí-ámharach, mífhortúnach Italian: sfortunato (it), iellato (it), sfigato (it), scalognato (it), malcapitato (it), sventurato (it), disgraziato (it) Kazakh: бақытсыз (kk) (baqytsyz) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بێبەخت‎ (ku) (bêbext) Latin: īnfēlīx Malayalam: ദൗർഭാഗ്യം (dauṟbhāgyaṃ) Norwegian: uheldig (no) Occitan: desfortunat, malastrugat Ottoman Turkish: وارون‎ (varun) Polish: fatalny (pl), pechowy (pl) Portuguese: desafortunado, azarado (pt), infeliz (pt) Russian: несча́стный (ru) (nesčástnyj), несчастли́вый (ru) (nesčastlívyj), неуда́чный (ru) (neudáčnyj), неуда́чливый (ru) (neudáčlivyj) Spanish: desafortunado (es), desgraciado (es) Swedish: olycklig (sv)

marked or accompanied by or resulting in misfortune

Armenian: դժբախտ (hy) (džbaxt), ձախորդ (hy) (jaxord) Bulgarian: неудачен (bg) (neudačen) Catalan: desafortunat (ca) Danish: uheldig Finnish: onneton (fi), epäonninen (fi), onnistumaton (fi) French: malencontreux (fr) German: unglücklich (de), unglückselig (de) Irish: aimseach Italian: sfortunato (it) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: نەگبەت‎ (ku) (negbet) Latin: īnfēlīx Malayalam: ദൗർഭാഗ്യം (dauṟbhāgyaṃ) Norwegian: uheldig (no) Plautdietsch: schod Portuguese: desafortunado, infeliz (pt) Russian: неуда́чный (ru) (neudáčnyj) Spanish: desafortunado (es)

See also

• deplorable
• regrettable
• infelicitous
• unsuitable

Noun

unfortunate (plural unfortunates)

1. An unlucky person; one who has fallen into bad circumstances.
   • 1960 February, “Talking of Trains: Moretonhampstead - a p.s.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 73:

     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.

2. (archaic, euphemistic) A prostitute.

Translations

unlucky person

Bulgarian: нещастник (bg) m (neštastnik) Czech: nešťastník (cs) m Irish: ainniseoir m, créatúr m, donán m