unfortunate
part of speech
adjective (unfortunate); noun (an unfortunate, unfortunates — formal, old-fashioned); adverb unfortunately
meaning for a pupil
1) Having bad luck; unlucky. tree →
2) Causing problems or sad results: an unfortunate accident. tree →
3) (formal) Not suitable and a bit embarrassing: an unfortunate remark. tree →
4) (noun, old-fashioned) A poor or unlucky person. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories it signals bad luck or a sad event; in formal speech «It is unfortunate that …» is a polite way to say something is bad. The adverb «unfortunately» starts sentences with bad news. Phrases: «an unfortunate accident», «it is unfortunate that».
examples
- It was unfortunate that it rained on sports day. tree →
- The unfortunate boy dropped his ice cream. tree →
- An unfortunate mix-up sent our parcel to the wrong town. tree →
- Calling the new teacher by the wrong name was an unfortunate slip. tree →
- Unfortunately, the shop was shut. tree →
- The kind woman helped the unfortunates of the town. tree →
- What had become of all these unfortunate children? tree →
note
Takes «an»: «an unfortunate event». Unfortunately = sadly, used for bad news. Opposite: fortunate, lucky. Polite formal speech uses «unfortunate» to soften bad news.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «unfortunate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.