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Misfortune vs Misfall - What's the difference?

misfortune | misfall |

As nouns the difference between misfortune and misfall

is that misfortune is (uncountable) bad luck while misfall is a mishap; accident; bad luck; misfortune.

As a verb misfall is

to fall badly or incorrectly; happen unfortunately (to); mishappen; turn out badly.

misfortune

English

Noun

  • (uncountable) bad luck
  • * 2012 , July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track
    • Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune .
    The worst tour I have ever had the misfortune to experience.
    It was my fortune, or misfortune , to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. - Ulysses S. Grant
  • (countable) an undesirable event such as an accident
  • * 1839 , Charles Robert Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle. , Chapter X
    • The snowstorm, which was the cause of their misfortune , happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!
    She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes .

    Related terms

    * misfortunate

    misfall

    English

    Verb

  • To fall badly or incorrectly; happen unfortunately (to); mishappen; turn out badly.
  • *1889 , Henry Morley, Early prose romances :
    • [...] let us abide together that, one with the counsel and that other with the deed, then may there nothing misfall to usward.
  • *2009 , Eric B. Hare, Skyscrapers :
    • However, the principal and his students worked hard, and they soon had the buildings in shape for use and the farm doing as well as possible. Then a terrible misfortune misfell one of the neighbors who was most bitter in his tirades.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mishap; accident; bad luck; misfortune.
  • *1875 , Julian Hawthorne, Saxon studies :
    • But alas! an unlooked- for misfall has occurred."