Meanings
- uncountableAn undesirable turn of events (such as an accident); misfortune.
McCarthy will point to their bad luck but the statistics now show that Wolves have lost four league matches and have claimed one point from a possible 15 - so it may prove to be another difficult season for the Midlands side.
2011 October 1, Saj Chowdhury, “Wolverhampton 1 - 2 Newcastle”, in BBC SportSynonyms: adverseness, adversity, bad cess, disadventure, hard luck, ill luck, illfare, misadventure · Antonyms: felicity, fortune, fortuitousness, fortuity, good cess, good fortune, good luck, happiness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn undesirable turn of events (such as an accident); misfortune.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes
noununnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Ancient Greek περικάκησις, δυστυχία
- περικάκησις (perikákēsis)misfortune
- δυστυχία (dustukhía)misfortune
Arabic نَحْس, سُوءُ الحَظّ
- نَحْس (naḥs)misfortune
- سُوءُ الحَظّ (sūʔu l-ḥaẓẓ)misfortune
- بَلاء (balāʔ)misfortune
Bengali কুফা
- কুফা (kupha)misfortune
Bulgarian лош късме́т, неща́стие
- лош късме́т (loš kăsmét)misfortune
- неща́стие (neštástie)misfortune
- несполу́ка (nespolúka)misfortune
- малша́нс (malšáns)misfortune
- неуда́ча (neudáča)misfortune
Catalan desgràcia, mala sort
- desgràciamisfortune
- mala sortmisfortune
Chinese Mandarin 運氣不好 /运气不好, 壞運氣 /坏运气
- 運氣不好 /运气不好 (yùnqi bùhǎo)misfortune
- 壞運氣 /坏运气 (huài yùnqi)misfortune
- 噩運 /噩运 (èyùn)misfortune
- 不幸 (bùxìng)misfortune
- 倒霉 (dǎoméi)misfortune
- 霉運 (méiyùn)misfortune
Czech smůla, pech
- smůlamisfortune
- pechmisfortune
- neštěstímisfortune
Danish uheld, ulykke
- uheldmisfortune
- ulykkemisfortune
Dutch pech, ongeluk
- pechmisfortune
- ongelukmisfortune
Esperanto malbonŝanco, peĉo
- malbonŝancomisfortune
- peĉomisfortune
- malbona fortunomisfortune
Estonian ebaõnn
- ebaõnnmisfortune
Finnish huono tuuri, epäonni
- huono tuurimisfortune
- epäonnimisfortune
French guignon, guigne
- guignonmisfortune
- guignemisfortune
- malchancemisfortune
- poissemisfortune
- manque de bolmisfortune
- pas de bolmisfortune
- manque de culmisfortune
German Pech, Unglück
- Pechmisfortune
- Unglückmisfortune
- Ungemachmisfortune
Hebrew נחס
- נחס (nakhs)misfortune
Hindi अभाग्य, दुर्भाग्य
- अभाग्य (abhāgya)misfortune
- दुर्भाग्य (durbhāgya)misfortune
Hungarian balszerencse
- balszerencsemisfortune
Icelandic óhamingja, ógæfa
- óhamingjamisfortune
- ógæfamisfortune
Indonesian kesialan
- kesialanmisfortune
Irish amarrán, mí-ádh
- amarránmisfortune
- mí-ádhmisfortune
- drochrathmisfortune
- mífhortúnmisfortune
Italian iella, sfiga
- iellamisfortune
- sfigamisfortune
- sfortunamisfortune
- malasortemisfortune
Japanese 不運
- 不運 (fuun)misfortune
Korean 불운, 불행
- 불운 (burun)misfortune
- 불행 (bulhaeng)misfortune
Latin res adversae, fortuna mala
- res adversaemisfortune
- fortuna malamisfortune
- res malamisfortune
- adversamisfortune
- infortūniummisfortune
Latvian nelaime, neveiksme
- nelaimemisfortune
- neveiksmemisfortune
Lithuanian nelaimė
- nelaimėmisfortune
Modern Greek ατυχία, κακοτυχία
- ατυχία (atychía)misfortune
- κακοτυχία (kakotychía)misfortune
- αναποδιά (anapodiá)misfortune
Māori kōtua, kōtuatanga
- kōtuamisfortune
- kōtuatangamisfortune
- aituāmisfortune
Norwegian ulykke, uheld
- ulykkemisfortune
- uheldmisfortune
- uflaksmisfortune
Persian بَدشانسی, بَدبَختی
- بَدشانسی (badšânsi)misfortune
- بَدبَختی (badbaxti)misfortune
Polish pech, nieszczęście
- pechmisfortune
- nieszczęściemisfortune
Portuguese azar, má sorte
- azarmisfortune
- má sortemisfortune
Romanian ghinion, neșansă
- ghinionmisfortune
- neșansămisfortune
- nenorocmisfortune
Russian невезе́ние, несча́стье
- невезе́ние (nevezénije)misfortune
- несча́стье (nesčástʹje)misfortune
- неуда́ча (neudáča)misfortune
- го́ре (góre)misfortune
- беда́ (bedá)misfortune
Scottish Gaelic mì-àdh
- mì-àdhmisfortune
Slovak smola, nešťastie
- smolamisfortune
- nešťastiemisfortune
Spanish mala pata, mala suerte
- mala patamisfortune
- mala suertemisfortune
- mala lechemisfortune
- gafemisfortune
- desgraciamisfortune
- desventuramisfortune
- ñequemisfortune
- trampuchetamisfortune
- yetamisfortune
- monosemic: macacoamisfortune
- mavitamisfortune
- panduramisfortune
Swahili nuksi
- nuksimisfortune
Swedish olycka, otur
- olyckamisfortune
- oturmisfortune
Tagalog malas
- malasmisfortune
Turkish kötü şans, kör talih
- kötü şansmisfortune
- kör talihmisfortune
- şanssızlıkmisfortune
- uğursuzlukmisfortune
Ukrainian неща́стя, го́ре
- неща́стя (neščástja)misfortune
- го́ре (hóre)misfortune
- біда́ (bidá)misfortune
- невда́ча (nevdáča)misfortune
- ли́хо (lýxo)misfortune
Vietnamese họa
- họamisfortune
Cite this entry
bad luck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20luck
“bad luck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20luck. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bad luck,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bad%20luck.
Source: bad luck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.