MISFORTUNE.
Synonyms:
| adversity, | disappointment, | ill fortune, | ruin, |
| affliction, | disaster, | ill luck, | sorrow, |
| bereavement, | distress, | misadventure, | stroke, |
| blow, | failure, | mischance, | trial, |
| calamity, | hardship, | misery, | tribulation, |
| chastening, | harm, | mishap, | trouble, |
| chastisement, | ill, | reverse, | visitation. |
Misfortune is adverse fortune or any instance thereof, any untoward event, usually of lingering character or consequences, and such as the sufferer is not deemed directly responsible for; as, he[243] had the misfortune to be born blind. Any considerable disappointment, failure, or misfortune, as regards outward circumstances, as loss of fortune, position, and the like, when long continued or attended with enduring consequences, constitutes adversity. For the loss of friends by death we commonly use affliction or bereavement. Calamity and disaster are used of sudden and severe misfortunes, often overwhelming; ill fortune and ill luck, of lighter troubles and failures. We speak of the misery of the poor, the hardships of the soldier. Affliction, chastening, trial, and tribulation have all an especially religious bearing, suggesting some disciplinary purpose of God with beneficent design. Affliction may be keen and bitter, but brief; tribulation is long and wearing. We speak of an affliction, but rarely of a tribulation, since tribulation is viewed as a continuous process, which may endure for years or for a lifetime; but we speak of our daily trials. Compare [CATASTROPHE].
Antonyms:
| blessing, | consolation, | gratification, | pleasure, | success, |
| boon, | good fortune, | happiness, | prosperity, | triumph. |
| comfort, | good luck, | joy, | relief, |
MOB.
Synonyms:
| canaille, | dregs of the people, | masses, | rabble, |
| crowd, | lower classes, | populace, | the vulgar. |