Hapless

//ˈhæplɪs// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    unfortunate. especially
  2. 2
    Very unlucky; ill-fated.

    "Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts."

  3. 3
    miserable, wretched, unhappy, measly, forlorn.
  4. 4
    Devoid of talent or skill.

    "Gideon Defoe scripted from his own series-launching comedic book The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, about the adventures of a hapless group of pirates known only by names like The Pirate With The Scarf, The Pirate With Gout, and in the case of their leader, The Pirate Captain."

Adjective
  1. 1
    deserving or inciting pity wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
badly offdepresseddiredisastrousdonsiedoomful

Example

More examples

"Dragons flew in the sky, raining down fiery death and destruction on the hapless villagers."

Etymology

From about 1400, from hap (“luck”) + -less.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.