ILL LUCK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ill luck mean? 

• ILL LUCK (noun)
  The noun ILL LUCK has 1 sense:

1. an unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes

  Familiarity information: ILL LUCK used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILL LUCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

bad luck; ill luck; misfortune; tough luck

Hypernyms ("ill luck" is a kind of...):

circumstances; destiny; fate; fortune; lot; luck; portion (your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ill luck"):

weakness (the condition of being financially weak)

adversity; hard knocks; hardship (a state of misfortune or affliction)

gutter; sewer; toilet (misfortune resulting in lost effort or money)

hard cheese (bad luck)

 Context examples 

Alas! said he to his wife, what ill luck has befallen me!—my wine is all spilt, and my horses all three dead.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Man! he said, but it made us afeard, for we expeckit that we should have to pay for it wi' some rare piece o' ill luck, so as to keep up the average.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Could she have foreseen such a circumstance, nothing should have persuaded her to go out with the others; and, as it was, she could only lament her ill luck, and think over what she had lost, till it was clear to her that the drive had by no means been very pleasant and that John Thorpe himself was quite disagreeable.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Time passed on again, and the youngest son too wished to set out into the wide world to seek for the golden bird; but his father would not listen to it for a long while, for he was very fond of his son, and was afraid that some ill luck might happen to him also, and prevent his coming back.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)