as in unfortunate
having, prone to, or marked by bad luck
the hapless motorist had barely paid his bill and driven away from the body shop when a truck sideswiped his car
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Recent Examples of hapless
But Ivanka, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, playing hapless heroine who finally gets her due?
—
Sam Reed, Glamour, 21 Jan. 2025
The slapstick finale has all the Universal Monsters going at it, with a hapless Chick and Wilbur trying to escape in one piece.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025
In Danny Boyle’s marvelously unhinged 1997 lovers-on-the-lam confection A Life Less Ordinary, Diaz plays Celine, an heiress who’s kidnapped by a hapless janitor, Ewan McGregor’s Robert.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
Barca came roaring out of the traps following the interval, with Raphinha scoring his second of the night upon cleverly dribbling on the other side of a set of hapless white shirts to make it 5-1.
—Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for hapless 
Sam Reed, Glamour, 21 Jan. 2025
The slapstick finale has all the Universal Monsters going at it, with a hapless Chick and Wilbur trying to escape in one piece.
—Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025
In Danny Boyle’s marvelously unhinged 1997 lovers-on-the-lam confection A Life Less Ordinary, Diaz plays Celine, an heiress who’s kidnapped by a hapless janitor, Ewan McGregor’s Robert.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 17 Jan. 2025
Barca came roaring out of the traps following the interval, with Raphinha scoring his second of the night upon cleverly dribbling on the other side of a set of hapless white shirts to make it 5-1.
—Tom Sanderson, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for hapless
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Cite this Entry
“Hapless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hapless. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.
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