infelicitous
adjUK /ˌɪn.fəˈlɪs.ɪ.təs/ · US /ˌɪn.fəˈlɪs.ɪ.təs/
Etymology From in- + felicitous.
1
Unhappy or unfortunate.
- My last run this month is an amazing performance of an "A2/3" Pacific, No. 60524, Herringbone (could there possibly be a more infelicitous name for a locomotive than this, let alone for the unhappy horse which first had to bear it?), […].1953 December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Performance and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 838:
- If leading a "dog's life" be considered a peculiar phase of human misery, the life of a Boys' Dog is still more infelicitous.1973, Bret Harte, “A Boy's Dog”, in Mrs. Skaggs's Husbands and Other Sketches:
2
Inappropriate or awkward; not well said, expressed, or done.
- "Now, you've got just grounds for shooting me," he said gaily, and instantly regretted his infelicitous remark.1909, William MacLeod Raine, “chapter 24”, in Ridgway of Montana:
3
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Of a sentence or utterance: not semantically and pragmatically coherent.
- Synonyms
- sad, lamentable, unlucky
- Derived terms
- infelicitously, infelicitousness