Unlucky Meaning
/ʌnˈlʌki/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjUnfortunate, marked by misfortune.
adjInauspicious.
Sentence Examples
How unlucky I am!
What an unlucky boy I am!
Some people say thirteen is an unlucky number.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
He was very ____, as he lost his wallet and missed the bus on the same day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was quite ____ to miss the train by just one single minute, so he had to wait for the next one today.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English lucky English unlucky From un- + lucky.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He was very ____, as he lost his wallet and missed the bus on the same day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He was quite ____ to miss the train by just one single minute, so he had to wait for the next one today.