unfortunate person
3
3.4
- noun
:
persona desafortunada
- Without solving the quality-of-care problem, nursing homes cannot be anything but miserable institutions for unfortunate persons waiting to die.
- poor, unfortunate person
- help these unfortunate people
You may assume this unfortunate person is living with a severe mental illness.
- You may assume this unfortunate person is living with a severe mental illness.
Examples
-
There's nothing to do but to stay here and help other, you know, unfortunate people who haven't yet realized that we're in a beautiful place.
-
I've met a lot of unfortunate people in my life, but not many of them would have been able to compete with Borya in the production of sad, reproachful looks—the look of a kindhearted man unfairly taken advantage of.
Fiction book (1993) -
You may assume this unfortunate person is living with a severe mental illness.
-
Aren't they all unfortunate people?
Fiction book (1993) -
The dancers continued through the song, and a DJ took over momentarily while some unfortunate person cleaned up the mess.
Blog text (13) -
There are some unfortunate people in this world whose names are—how can I express it?—Misfits.
Blog text (2) -
Hajm and other men help them off the sleds, carry them into the synagogue, and help take those unfortunate people to shelter in other people's houses.
Fiction book (1997) -
She felt like an unfortunate person after losing her job unexpectedly.
-
The charity provides support for unfortunate people who have been affected by natural disasters.
-
Many unfortunate persons in the city struggle to find affordable housing.
Synonyms
5
3.0
A person who has bad luck or a hard life
2
5.4
A person you feel sorry for
Antonyms
How Lucky
- Informal
2
5.8
3
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'unfortunate' (having bad luck) modifies 'person', so a learner who knows both words will readily infer 'a person who suffers misfortune.' This adjective+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, making the MWE transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Unfortunate person comes from the old idea of 'fortune' as 'luck'; an unfortunate person is someone whom good luck did not visit, as if bad luck follows them. That's why it means 'a person who suffers from bad luck'.