misadventure

English

Etymology

From Middle English misaventure, from Old French mesaventure, equivalent to mis- +‎ adventure.

Pronunciation

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Noun

misadventure (usually uncountable, plural misadventures)

1. An accidental mishap or misfortune.
   • 1854, Charles Dickens, “Stephen Blackpool”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, book the first (Sowing), page 75:

     It is said that every life has its roses and thorns; there seemed, however, to have been a misadventure or mistake in Stephen's case, whereby somebody else had become possessed of his roses, and he had become possessed of the same somebody else's thorns in addition to his own.

   • 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: B.R. safety in 1959”, in Trains Illustrated, page 708:

     There were, however, 34 deaths among passengers in movement accidents, due mainly to misadventure and carelessness when entering and leaving trains in motion, falling off platforms and out of carriages, and opening and closing carriage doors.

Derived terms

• death by misadventure

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: onnettomuus (fi), vahinko (fi), tapaturma (fi)
• French: mésaventure (fr) f
• Polish: niepowodzenie (pl) n
• Russian: злоключе́ние (ru) n (zloključénije)

References

• “misadventure”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.