Subscriber login
Password
Forgot your password?
Library card login
Login with Shibboleth® »
Login with Athens »
Close menu
Oxford Dictionaries Online
The world's most trusted dictionaries
About
Subscriber services
What's new
Contact us
Help
Subscribe now
Already a subscriber or in a subscribing organization?
Login
Dictionary
Other language resources
US English
World English
Dictionary
Better writing
World of words
Puzzles and games
For children and schools
For learners of English
Email
Cite
hapless
(hap|less)
Pronunciation:
/ˈhaplɪs/
adjective
(especially of a person) unfortunate:
the hapless victims of the disaster
Derivatives
haplessly
adverb
haplessness
noun
Origin:
late Middle English
: from
hap
(in the early sense 'good fortune')
+
-less
Nearby Words
Hants
Hanukkah
Hanuman
hanuman
Hanzhong
hap
hapax legomenon
haphazard
hapkido
hapless
haplo-
haplochromine
haplodiploid
haplography
haploid
haplology
haplontic
haplosis
haplotype