hapless

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   deserving or inciting pity

   a hapless victim

2. 2
   adj

   Very unlucky; ill-fated.

   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.

3. 3
   adj

   Devoid of talent or skill.

   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.

4. 4
   adj

   Especially of a person, unfortunate.

5. 5
   adj

   Very miserable, wretched, unhappy, measly, forlorn.

Etymology

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