Unfortunate describes something unlucky, regrettable, or marked by bad luck. When you call something unfortunate, you're saying it's sad or disappointing, but not necessarily anyone's fault.

If you study hard for a spelling bee but get eliminated on a word you'd never seen before, that's an unfortunate turn of events. When a family's vacation gets canceled because someone gets sick, that's unfortunate timing. The word suggests sympathy: you recognize that something went wrong, but you're not blaming anyone for it.

You might describe a situation as unfortunate when bad luck strikes a good person, like when a careful student trips and spills paint all over their art project right before it's due. People often use the word to soften bad news: “Unfortunately, the field trip has been postponed because of the weather.”

The word can also describe someone experiencing hardship. An unfortunate person might be someone facing tough circumstances through no fault of their own. When something unfortunate happens, it creates problems or disappointment, but unlike words like “terrible” or “disastrous,” unfortunate suggests the problem might be manageable or temporary, just genuinely unlucky.