unfortunate
adjective (unfortunate); noun (an unfortunate, unfortunates — formal, old-fashioned); adverb unfortunately
Everyday
- Having bad luck; unlucky. tree →
- Causing problems or sad results: an unfortunate accident. tree →
- (formal) Not suitable and a bit embarrassing: an unfortunate remark. tree →
- (noun, old-fashioned) A poor or unlucky person. tree →
In the lessons
In stories it signals bad luck or a sad event; in formal speech «It is unfortunate that …» is a polite way to say something is bad. The adverb «unfortunately» starts sentences with bad news. Phrases: «an unfortunate accident», «it is unfortunate that».
Examples
- It was unfortunate that it rained on sports day. tree →
- The unfortunate boy dropped his ice cream. tree →
- An unfortunate mix-up sent our parcel to the wrong town. tree →
- Calling the new teacher by the wrong name was an unfortunate slip. tree →
- Unfortunately, the shop was shut. tree →
- The kind woman helped the unfortunates of the town. tree →
- What had become of all these unfortunate children? tree →
Note
Takes «an»: «an unfortunate event». Unfortunately = sadly, used for bad news. Opposite: fortunate, lucky. Polite formal speech uses «unfortunate» to soften bad news.
On Mova
- Trees and pragmatics of «unfortunate» in the school dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- «unfortunate» in the school dictionary on Mova free.
This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/unfortunate/