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hapless

UK/ˈhæplɪs/US/ˈhæpləs/
adjectiveC2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,308 of 15,258neutral

Hapless means unlucky, and to be pitied for it. The hapless victim, a hapless attempt, some hapless official.

It is faintly comic and always looks down a little: a hapless person is one that events keep happening to. The hap in it is the old word for luck, the same one in happen, mishap and perhaps.

Definitions of hapless

  1. 1adjectivehaplessUnlucky, and to be pitied for it.C2

    “The hapless tourist lost his wallet, then his passport, and then his way home.”

hapless is a quality.

Where it comes from

Hap, the old word for luck or chance, plus -less. Happen and perhaps share the root.

From about 1400, from hap + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

hapless in the wild

  • The hapless Btfsplk means well, but he is "the world's worst jinx" and brings disastrous misfortune to everyone around him.

    Joe Btfsplk

  • When he returned home with the news, the hapless Bulchan was killed by the khagan in a fit of rage.

    Bulchan

  • The title was shared between three teams who were unable to beat each other but all managed a victory over the hapless Irish.

    1959–60 British Home Championship

  • Due to a mixup, the distantly related and quite hapless William Boot is sent instead.

    Mrs. Stitch

  • The plot follows a murderous rural family and the hapless pollster who becomes entangled in their hunt for a cache of money.

    Murder, He Says

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.