MISFORTUNE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does misfortune mean? 

• MISFORTUNE (noun)
  The noun MISFORTUNE has 2 senses:

1. unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event

2. an unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes

  Familiarity information: MISFORTUNE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISFORTUNE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

bad luck; misfortune

Hypernyms ("misfortune" is a kind of...):

trouble (an event causing distress or pain)

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

pity; shame (an unfortunate development)

misadventure; mischance; mishap (an instance of misfortune)

calamity; cataclysm; catastrophe; disaster; tragedy (an event resulting in great loss and misfortune)

adversity (a stroke of ill fortune; a calamitous event)

hardship (something that causes or entails suffering)

knock (a bad experience)

Sense 2

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 ("misfortune" 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 "misfortune"):

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)

Antonym:

good fortune (an auspicious state resulting from favorable outcomes)

 Context examples 

Then she sat and wept and screamed with all the strength of her body, over the misfortune which lay before her.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They were very curious to know my story, but I gave them very little satisfaction, and they all conjectured that my misfortunes had impaired my reason.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

And how, Victor, can I relate our misfortune?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

One would imagine you had never heard my father speak of her personal misfortunes, though I know you must fifty times.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It's a great misfortune to have such strong likes and dislikes, isn't it?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Without haste, with the air of one resigned to misfortune Bill turned his head, and from where he sat counted the dogs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I feel as if my name and my misfortune must be in every man’s mouth.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Phelps was still weak after his long illness, and his misfortune made him querulous and nervous.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of course, I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family misfortune like this noised abroad.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)