mischance

/mɪsˈtʃæns/

Other forms: mischances

Mischance describes a moment of bad luck, like when you have the mischance of slipping on the ice or catching a cold or losing your car keys.

A mischance is a mishap or misadventure, or it can be plain old bad luck, like being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The word comes from an Old French word, mescheoir, where mes-, means "adversely" and -cheoir means "befall." A series of mischances might add up to a failed business, a lost Super Bowl, or just a really, really bad day.

Definitions of mischance

1. noun

   an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
   synonyms: bad luck, mishap

   type of:

   chance, fortune, hazard, luck

   an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
2. noun

   an instance of misfortune
   synonyms: misadventure, mishap

   types:

   accident

   an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury

   near miss

   an accidental collision that is narrowly avoided

   derailment

   an accident in which a train runs off its track

   ground loop

   a sharp uncontrollable turn made by an airplane while moving along the ground

   puncture

   loss of air pressure in a tire when a hole is made by some sharp object

   slip, trip

   an accidental misstep threatening (or causing) a fall

   crash

   (computer science) an event that causes a computer system to become inoperative

   fall, spill, tumble

   a sudden drop from an upright position

   collision

   an accident resulting from violent impact of a moving object

   crash, wreck

   a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles)

   accidental injury, injury

   an accident that results in physical damage or hurt

   shipwreck, wreck

   an accident that destroys a ship at sea

   casualty, fatal accident

   an accident that causes someone to die

   head crash

   (computer science) a crash of a read/write head in a hard disk drive (usually caused by contact of the head with the surface of the magnetic disk)

   type of:

   bad luck, misfortune

   unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event