Adjective

(er)

Experiencing the effect of favourable fortune; having the feeling arising from the consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, as peace, tranquillity, comfort; contented; joyous.

* 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , 144, xv,

Happy' is that people, that is in such a case: yea, ' happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

* 1777 , (Alexander Pope), An Essay on Man in Four Epistles: Argument of Epistle II'', in ''The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq , Volume III, page 26,

The learn'd is happy' nature to explore, / The fool is ' happy that he knows no more ;

Music makes me feel happy .

Favored by luck or fortune; lucky.

* 1661 , (Robert Boyle), (The Sceptical Chymist) , 2006, Elibron Classics (imprint), page 227,

I may presume that what I have hitherto discoursed will induce you to think, that chymists have been much more happy in finding experiments than the causes of them; or in assigning the principles by which they may best be explained.

Dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous.

* 1761 , (Jonathan Swift), A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation'': Introduction, in ''The works of Dr Jonathan Swift , Volume VII, page 246,

For instance, one lady can give an an?wer better than a?k a que?tion : one gentleman is happy at a reply ; another excels in a rejoinder : one can revive a langui?hing conver?ation by a ?udden ?urpri?ing ?entence ;.

Content, satisfied (with or to do something); having no objection (to something).

Are you happy to pay me back by the end of the week?

Are you happy with your internet service provider?

(As a suffix to a noun) favouring or inclined to use, as in trigger-happy.

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=August 21 , author=Jason Heller , title=The Darkness: Hot Cakes (Music Review) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=“Baby, I was a loser / Several years on the dole / An Englishman with a very high voice / Doing rock ’n’ roll,” sings falsetto-happy frontman Justin Hawkins at the start of “Every Inch Of You,” Hot Cakes ’ opener.}}

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. }}

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