hapless

From about 1400, from hap (“luck”) +‎ -less.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæplɪs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæpləs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: (US) -æpləs

hapless (comparative more hapless, superlative most hapless)

1. (especially of a person) unfortunate.
2. Very unlucky; ill-fated.
   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], “chapter 8”, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC:

     Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.

   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:

     Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

   • 1914, John Galsworthy, The Mob, act 1:

     My dear friend, are you to become that hapless kind of outcast, a champion of lost causes?

   • 2008 December 31, Harriet Barovick, “Detroit The Lost Season”, in Time:

     The hapless squad, which was outscored 517-268 in 2008, became the first in league history to go 0-16.

   • 2025 June 13, Rachel Swan, “If Waymos are ignited during Saturday’s No Kings protest, S.F. officials could let them burn”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 June 2025:

     Among the most captivating scenes from the initial Los Angeles protests were the scorched Waymo cars, lined up in a row and engulfed in heavy black smoke. Some observers believe the cars were targeted because of their association with Big Tech. Others view the Waymos as hapless victims, because they have no one behind the wheel and easily become paralyzed if an object is placed in their path.

3. (Very) miserable, wretched, unhappy, measly, forlorn.
4. Devoid of talent or skill.
   • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[2]:

     Gideon Defoe scripted from his own series-launching comedic book The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists, about the adventures of a hapless group of pirates known only by names like The Pirate With The Scarf, The Pirate With Gout, and in the case of their leader, The Pirate Captain.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:hapless.

• haplessly
• haplessness

• happy
• happen

• phasels, plashes, shpeals