From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhaplesshap‧less /ˈhæpləs/ adjective [only before noun] literaryUNLUCKY unlucky The hapless passengers were stranded at the airport for three days.
Examples from the Corpus
hapless• The world's biggest aircraft-leasing firm will now try to squeeze concessions from its hapless bondholders.• I decided to be guided by a modified version of the National Parks Service motto, updated for hapless burglars.• But Frank Bascombe, for all his hapless domestic incompetence and elaborate self-pity, was interesting and kind of likable.• Several hapless hikers got caught in the snowstorm.• They came to this swampland and found a team to punish, those hapless New York Jets.• Some were lost by hapless temps.• The weary elders of the 1980s take revenge at last upon the hapless victims of the 1960s.Origin hapless (1500-1600) hap ( → HAPPY) 