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Gormless vs Hapless - What's the difference?

gormless | hapless |

As adjectives the difference between gormless and hapless

is that gormless is (chiefly|uk|of a person) lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish while hapless is very unlucky; ill-fated.

gormless

English

Alternative forms

* gaumless, gawmless

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (chiefly, UK, of a person) Lacking intelligence, sense or understanding; foolish.
  • *
    • Did I ever look so stupid: so gormless as Joseph calls it?
  • * 1988 , , page 4:
    • But Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood were both so gormless and so wrapped up in their own silly little lives that they failed to notice anything unusual about their daughter.
  • * 1990 , , page 171:
    • There was a sort of gormless unstoppability about him that she found rather fascinating.
  • * , chapter 8, The Wedding, Auntie Muriel , page 141:
    • “Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as he looks in press photographs, then. […]”

    Synonyms

    * (lacking intelligence) dull, slow, stupid; inexperienced, naive

    Derived terms

    * gormlessly, gormlessness

    hapless

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Very unlucky; ill-fated.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1818 , author= , title=Frankenstein , section= , passage=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.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
    • , title= , chapter=2 citation , passage=Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.}}
  • * 1914 , , The Mob , act 1:
    • My dear friend, are you to become that hapless kind of outcast, a champion of lost causes?
  • * 2008 , Harriet Barovick, " Detroit The Lost Season," Time , 31 Dec.:
    • The hapless squad, which was outscored 517-268 in 2008, became the first in league history to go 0-16.
  • Devoid of talent or skill.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=April 26 , author=Tasha Robinson , title=Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits : , work=The Onion AV Club , url=http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-pirates-band-of-misfits,73064/ , page= , passage=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. }}
  • *

    • Derived terms

    * haplessly * haplessness

    Anagrams

    *