| English Dictionary |
UNLUCKY
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does unlucky mean?
• UNLUCKY (adjective)
The adjective UNLUCKY has 2 senses:
1. having or bringing misfortune
2. marked by or promising bad fortune
Familiarity information: UNLUCKY used as an adjective is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having or bringing misfortune
Synonyms:
luckless; unlucky
Context example:
Friday the 13th is an unlucky date
Similar:
hexed; jinxed ((usually used colloquially) causing or accompanied by misfortune)
Also:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Antonym:
lucky (having or bringing good fortune)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Marked by or promising bad fortune
Synonyms:
doomed; ill-fated; ill-omened; ill-starred; unlucky
Context example:
the unlucky prisoner was again put in irons
Similar:
unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)
Context examples
“I am very sorry,” said she; “it is very unlucky.”
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Oh, you will grow tired of them, too, of all the female things, if you are unlucky enough to live.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
How unlucky that you should have a reasonable answer to give, and that I should be so reasonable as to admit it!
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
“What an unlucky wretch I am!” cried he.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
I must tell you what an unlucky thing happened to me, as to that.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
I trust her feeling ill may not be from that unlucky prick of the safety-pin.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
We are not so unlucky, said the new ruler, for this Palace and the Emerald City belong to us, and we can do just as we please.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
That first unlucky obligation, I have paid.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He had one peculiarity which Buck was unlucky enough to discover.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
“This here's an unlucky ship, this HISPANIOLA, Jim,” he went on, blinking.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"If a dog shows his teeth, show him the stick." (Albanian proverb)
"Fixing the known is better than waiting for the unknown." (Arabic proverb)
"A fine rain still soaks you to the bone, but no one takes it seriously." (Corsican proverb)