hapless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- haplessly adverb
- haplessness noun
Etymology
Origin of hapless
Explanation
Use the adjective hapless to describe someone unlucky and deserving of pity, like the hapless car buyer who gives in to the fast-talking salesperson. The word hapless traces all the way back to the Old Norse word happ, meaning “chance, good luck.” Combine this with the suffix -less (“lacking”) and hapless means “unlucky” or “ill-fated.” A traveler who goes to Moscow and briefly gets lost on the subway? Just a tourist. A traveler who goes to Moscow, accidentally eats food he is allergic to, somehow loses all his money, and by chance gets on a train destined for Mongolia? Definitely hapless.
Vocabulary lists containing hapless
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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Stargirl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Only the hapless New York Jets, who haven’t reached the NFL playoffs since 2011, were worse off.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Baldwin was so hapless that he didn’t even know when he was near death.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 30, 2026
The new ads reunite Justin Long, who embodied a hip Mac laptop in Apple’s commercials, with John Hodgman, who played a hapless PC.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 20, 2026
The comedy sees Rogen play Matt Remick, the newly appointed hapless head of Continental Studios, who is desperate for celebrity approval while also trying to achieve both critical acclaim and box office success.
From BBC • Jan. 5, 2026
It took Lee and his men less than three minutes of fighting to overcome the hapless rebellion.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
