unlucky
part of speech
adjective (unlucky, unluckier, unluckiest); adverb (unluckily)
meaning for a pupil
1) Unlucky means having bad luck, when things go wrong by chance. tree →
2) Unlucky means bringing bad luck, as some people believe: «an unlucky number». tree →
3) Unlucky can mean sad that something did not happen: «you were unlucky not to win». tree →
sense in the lessons
a word of the story only, or a feeling after losing something; in everyday life: «unlucky!» is said kindly to someone who just missed; in stories and beliefs: some people think 13, black cats or broken mirrors are unlucky, but these are only superstitions; phrases: «unlucky for some», «unlucky in love»
examples
- The unlucky team lost 3 games in a row. tree →
- Unlucky Sam dropped 4 of his 10 eggs. tree →
- 13 is called an unlucky number. tree →
- It was an unlucky day: he lost 2 dollars. tree →
- «Unlucky!» said the coach when the ball hit the post. tree →
- Some people think a black cat crossing your path is unlucky. tree →
- She was unlucky to miss the bus by one minute. tree →
- Unluckily, it rained on sports day. tree →
- But odd numbers are sometimes considered unlucky. tree →
note
Carries no clue to the operation; look at what happened (lost, dropped) for taking away. Superstitions about unlucky numbers are not true: no number brings bad luck. Opposite: lucky. un- means not.
In the corpora
- Stories call owls wise, unlucky or ill when they fly by day, but the real owl is simply a superb hunter.
- To be sure of something, think of the unluckiest draw: it takes as many as it can without the wish coming true.
- The idea that Friday the 13th is unlucky is a superstition; nothing special really happens on those days.
- Ollie is unlucky, not cheated, unless the game promised a guarantee.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «unlucky» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.