unlucky

comparative unluckier · comparative more unlucky · superlative unluckiest · superlative most unlucky

1. Unfortunate, marked by misfortune.

   Her unluckier daughter and great-granddaughter have been tarred by amour's sloppy brush; but Mrs. Keppel, as her biographer Diana Souhami has written, "turned adultery into an art."

   1999 February 14, Liesl Schillinger, “The Lost Art of the Love Affair”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 Feb 2021

   4 more examples

   I pray you in your Letters, / When you ſhall theſe vnluckie deeds relate, / Speake of me, as I am. […] / Of one, whoſe ſubdu'd Eyes, / Albeit un-vsed to the melting moode, / Drops teares as faſt as the Arabian Trees / Their Medicinable gumme.

   1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, act V, scene ii, page 338

   "So he has a chance," said Connie. "Buckley's chance, the way his luck is. Fell out with his girl he did, and lost his job, and now 'e's goin' to lose 'is life. The unluckiest man that ever lived."

   1936, Andrew Barton ("Banjo") Paterson, The Shearer′s Colt

   For those unlucky enough to be on a service without lavatory provision, we can only speculate as to how passengers improvised if caught short. For men, it might be possible to urinate, albeit at the risk of offending fellow passengers - there were reports of passengers being hauled up before the courts for 'micturition' in coaches during the 19th century.

   2020 January 2, Dr Mike Esbester, “Waste disposal...”, in Rail, page 36

   By random chance alone, 99 times out of 100, the Lions should have won an NFL or NFC championship. Worse for arguably the league’s unluckiest fan base, the Lions haven’t really been competitive.

   2022 February 12, Harry Enten, “Cincinnati Bengals vs. Los Angeles Rams: The unluckiest sports teams and other Super Bowl musings”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Aug 2025

2. Inauspicious.
3. Having ill luck.

   A good man with a decent job cannot afford even basic health care. The message: Don’t get unlucky in America. You’re on your own.

   2026 September 26, Stephen Marche, “The Four TV Shows That Heralded America’s Fall”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

4. Bringing ill luck.

   1 more example

   Country like Nepal, India, Bhutan and Myanmar, people who follows Hindu religion, they consider the numbers 0, 1, 8, 10, 12, 19 and 28 as unlucky numbers, bad luck or evil spirits etc. These numbers are called oudenophobia, henophobia, octophobia, decaphobia, dodecaphobia, enneadecaphobia and eikosioctophobia respectively.

   2020 August 28, Rajendra Kunwar, “MATHEMATICS PHOBIA: CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND WAYS TO OVERCOME”, in International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, volume 8, number 8, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2024, page 820

5. obsoleteMischievous.

   1 more example

   “The brat continued yelpin' an' yowlin', an' aitin' more nor his three brothers put together, an' playin' all sorts uv unlucky thricks, for he was mighty mischievyously inclined, till it happened one day that Tim Carrol, the blind piper, goin' his rounds, called in and sot down by the fire to hav' a bit o' chat wid the woman o' the house.”

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 523