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haplessness

haplessness

1 6.8
A time when someone has bad luck
  • noun
  • /ˈhæpləsnəs/
translation icon : desgracia
  • In the gap between the father's illusion of potency and the reality of haplessness, we can see the failure of the implementation of the paternal metaphor.

Examples

  • In the past, Tate's subject matter has been the illogic and haplessness of private psychic life.

    Academic text (2010)
  • Her comment, where she and her fellow journalist "shared frustration with those who persist in believing that youthful goofiness or general haplessness are incompatible with terrorist aims and missions," was interesting.

    Blog text (29)
  • The haplessness of the team was evident as they lost every match this season.

  • After a series of unfortunate events, he resigned to his haplessness and decided to try again next year.

  • Despite his best efforts, his haplessness led him to fail the exam once more.

Synonyms

bad luck
vshaplessness
166 1.0

Unlucky events that happen by chance

implies a persistent personal state rather than random single events
misfortune
vshaplessness
75 3.7

A bad event that causes trouble

describes a general personal quality rather than a single bad occurrence
ill luck
vshaplessness
1 3.8

Bad things that happen to someone by chance

focuses on the personal, lasting tendency to experience those bad conditions
unluckiness
vshaplessness
3.0

A situation in which bad things keep happening to someone

emphasizes a lasting personal tendency rather than isolated events
cursedness
vshaplessness
  • Archaic
9.1

A state of being unlucky and thought to be under a bad spell

refers to the ordinary personal tendency to have bad outcomes without supernatural cause

Antonyms

190 3.4

The general state of a person's life

2.0

A state when good things happen by chance

How Unlucky

misfortune
75 3.7
bad luck
166 1.0
haplessness
1 6.8
to luck
30 6.6
good fortune
66 2.5

Surface Forms

haplessness singular
haplessnesses plural

Morphology

haplessness = hapless (transparent) = hap + less + ness

The word 'haplessness' is transparently derived from 'hapless' with the addition of the suffix '-ness' to form a noun.

Etymology

Haplessness comes from the short word hap, which means 'luck' or 'chance' and is the same root you see in happy (originally 'lucky') and mishap ('bad luck'). So, haplessness is simply the state of having no luck, or being 'unlucky'.