infelicitous

English

WOTD – 7 April 2010

Etymology

From in- +‎ felicitous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.fəˈlɪs.ɪ.təs/, /ˌɪn.fɪˈlɪs.ɪ.təs/, /ˌɪn.fɛlˈɪs.ɪ.təs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.fəˈlɪs.ɪ.təs/, /ˌɪn.fəˈlɪs.ə.təs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

infelicitous (comparative more infelicitous, superlative most infelicitous)

1. Unhappy or unfortunate.
   • 1953 December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Performance and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 838:

     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?), […] .

   • 1973, Bret Harte, “A Boy's Dog”, in Mrs. Skaggs's Husbands and Other Sketches:

     If leading a "dog's life" be considered a peculiar phase of human misery, the life of a Boys' Dog is still more infelicitous.

2. Inappropriate or awkward; not well said, expressed, or done.
   • 1909, William MacLeod Raine, “chapter 24”, in Ridgway of Montana:

     "Now, you've got just grounds for shooting me," he said gaily, and instantly regretted his infelicitous remark.

3. (linguistics) Of a sentence or utterance: not semantically and pragmatically coherent.

Synonyms

• (unhappy): See Thesaurus:sad or Thesaurus:lamentable
• (unlucky): See Thesaurus:unlucky

Derived terms

• infelicitously
• infelicitousness

Translations

unhappy or unfortunate

• Bulgarian: злощастен (bg) (zloštasten)
• Catalan: infeliç (ca) m or f, desgraciat
• Danish: uheldig
• Finnish: onneton (fi), epäonninen (fi)
• French: infortuné (fr)
• German: ungeschickt (de), unglücklich (de)
• Norwegian: ulykkelig, uheldig (no)
• Polish: nieszczęsny (pl), niefortunny (pl), nieudany (pl) m
• Russian: несчастли́вый (ru) m (nesčastlívyj), несча́стный (ru) m (nesčástnyj)
• Spanish: infortunado (es), desventurado (es), desgraciado (es), infeliz (es), desdichado (es)

inappropriate or awkward; not well said, expressed, or done

• Bulgarian: злополучен (bg) (zlopolučen), неудачен (bg) (neudačen)
• Catalan: maldestre (ca), inadequat, impropi
• Danish: uheldig
• Finnish: onneton (fi), surkea (fi)
• French: malheureux (fr), maladroit (fr), inadéquat (fr), gauche (fr)
• German: unglücklich (de), ungeschickt (de)
• Norwegian: uheldig (no)
• Russian: неуме́стный (ru) m (neuméstnyj), неподходя́щий (ru) m (nepodxodjáščij), неуда́чный (ru) m (neudáčnyj)
• Spanish: torpe (es), impropio (es), aciago (es), inadecuado (es)