How to Use hapless in a Sentence

hapless

adjective
  • She plays the hapless heroine who is unlucky in love.
  • For their part, the bad guys run a gamut from hapless to pure evil.
    — The Economist, 4 July 2019
  • In the meantime, the hapless bride must buy her own mitts.
    — Judith Martin, Washington Post, 31 July 2020
  • All the Colts had to do to make the playoffs was beat the hapless 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars.
    — Matthew Vantryon, The Indianapolis Star, 9 Jan. 2022
  • The problem for the hapless Rockies was that the Reds hit three homers to the Rockies’ two.
    — Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 26 Apr. 2025
  • That costs him — and his hapless partners — tons of points.
    — Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 26 July 2024
  • While lying bloodied in the middle of the ring, a hapless Rhodes was slapped by Scott in the face.
    — Michael Saponara, Billboard, 4 Mar. 2025
  • His absence was part of why the Leafs looked hapless in their own zone against the Bruins.
    — Joshua Kloke, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
  • There was a pair of chatty fish, too, and a hapless couple in a tiny dinghy.
    — David Lyman, Cincinnati.com, 5 July 2018
  • The next week, against hapless Northwestern, the Hoosiers roll.
    — Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star, 1 Jan. 2020
  • What if the Bengals lose Sunday in Jersey to the hapless Jets?
    — Paul Daugherty, The Enquirer, 26 Oct. 2021
  • The hapless Knicks piled up 123 to open this current roadie.
    — Chris Fedor, cleveland, 22 Nov. 2019
  • Break the curse, beat a hapless Jacksonville team in the Florida sun and the Colts are headed to the playoffs.
    — Joel A. Erickson, The Indianapolis Star, 8 Jan. 2022
  • The dizzying pacing, the litany of hapless jokes, the all-out slapstick and the familiar shtick.
    — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2024
  • She’s accompanied by the very last dragon in the world: the hapless but kind Sisu.
    — The Editors, Outside Online, 23 Dec. 2021
  • Better to be miles above the ground for longer, than stuck hapless in a stuffy cabin, unable to take off.
    — Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2024
  • Charlie Winshaw, the hapless new face of the franchise.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 10 Dec. 2021
  • In no way does this mean that Kyle Shanahan and Co. can overlook a hapless Detroit team on the road.
    — Vincent Frank, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2021
  • What the hapless Kafka-esque hero is accused of, no one knows, and no one cares.
    — Charlie Fink, Forbes, 17 June 2021
  • Gulls and boobies darted down to gorge on the hapless creatures.
    — Erin Florio, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Nov. 2024
  • That’s what a loss to the hapless Washington Football Team will do to a fanbase.
    — John Owning, Dallas News, 27 Oct. 2020
  • The Chargers are not the hapless Jets, of course, but the Chargers do have the league’s worst run defense by giving up 162.5 yards per game.
    — Matt Youmans, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2021
  • Meanwhile, Beau’s hapless lawyer is thrown from his balcony and smashed against the rocks below.
    — Vulture, 13 June 2023
  • The offense looked hapless for much of it as the Tigers did just enough to beat a two-win Mississippi State team.
    — John Talty | [email protected], al, 13 Dec. 2020
  • Her wealth of knowledge vaults her ahead of the hapless employees.
    — Sandra Upson, WIRED, 11 June 2018
  • The hapless guard also got a tongue-lashing from my mother.
    — Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 May 2023
  • Dismantling the hapless Colts, who fired coach Frank Reich the very next day, may not be a promise of more.
    — Tara Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Nov. 2022
  • Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner are just a few of the hapless adults caught in their web.
    — Matt Donnelly, Variety, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Stranger Things Season 4 brought love, loss, and gore for our hapless Hawkins heroes.
    — Milan Polk, Men's Health, 7 July 2022
  • The feds then demanded more and Armstrong is now gone, with hapless Columbia on its fourth president in less than two years.
    — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 15 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hapless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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