unlucky

CEFRA2

/ʌnˈlʌki/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Having or bringing bad luck.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Having ill luck.

Examples

Some people say thirteen is an unlucky number.
What an unlucky boy I am!

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 4
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Unfortunate, marked by misfortune.
Bringing ill luck.

More examples

In context

How unlucky I am!
"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."
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."

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He was very blank, as he lost his wallet and missed the bus on the same day.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

"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
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
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
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

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Origin

adjective

From un- + lucky.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

He was very blank—, as he lost his wallet and missed the bus on the same day.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

He was very blank, as he lost his wallet and missed the bus on the same day.