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. }}

*

Adjective

(en adjective)

Lacking mirth; devoid of joy.

"The laughter of man is more terrible than his tears, and takes more forms: hollow, heartless, mirthless , maniacal... " – James Thurber