: marked by, relating to, or experiencing bad luck or difficulty
another loss for the team's hard-luck pitcher
hard-luck stories

Examples of hard-luck in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Head-to-head with Donald Trump Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended his hard-luck campaign just before Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, Haley will be going head-to-head with her former boss on Tuesday in the Granite State. USA TODAY, 22 Jan. 2024 Horan was the hard-luck shooter of the game, denied multiple times by Musovic and clanking another header off the crossbar. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Aug. 2023 And Rafael Devers has had kind of a hard-luck year, even as he’s been productive. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2023 Williams came up short in her effort, a hard-luck, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in which Williams aggravated an injured right knee early in the match. Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 3 July 2023 The hard-luck Dennis, who emerged from Portland with 2022-23 series lead of one point over Cassidy, finished second for the fourth time in five races. Ndaschel, oregonlive, 24 June 2023 But the late effort wasn’t enough for Baltimore right-hander Kyle Bradish to avoid being a hard-luck loser opposite Berríos. Nathan Ruiz, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 2023 Mason Weaver took the hard-luck loss for Homestead. Treasure Washington, The Indianapolis Star, 11 June 2023 Viktor Hovland wins the Memorial DUBLIN, Ohio — Viktor Hovland handled the toughest stretch at Muirfield Village and delivered three clutch putts at the end to win the Memorial in a playoff over hard-luck Denny McCarthy. Tom Canavan, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hard-luck.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1890, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hard-luck was in 1890

Dictionary Entries Near hard-luck

Cite this Entry

“Hard-luck.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hard-luck. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hard-luck

adjective
ˈhärd-ˌlək
: marked by, relating to, or experiencing bad luck
hard-luck stories
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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