unˈhappily, adv.
[un-1 11. Cf. ON. {uacu}heppiliga (Norw. dial. uheppelege).]
1. Unfortunately, unluckily; by misfortune or mischance; regrettably.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 937 But he was slayn..Vnhappyly at Thebes al to raþe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7104 Þen vnhappely hys hest he hastid to do, Þat angart hym after angardly sore. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 7351 Jewel vnhappelie hidre did hir bring, For now he hath an euel ending. 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Mary (1914) 251, I ame not able to ryde..by reason of a strayn which I have vnhappelie mett with. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent 138 b, I delyver suche only as lying in my waye doe offer them selues, and suche as..I haue not vnhappily lighted vpon. 1609 Daniel Civ. Wars iv. lvii, Worc'ster (who had escap'd vnhappily His death in battel) on a Scaffold dies. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §51 That War in which the King was so unhappyly engaged against Spain. 1738 in Nairne Peerage Evidence (1874) 42 Whereas John Nairne..was unhappily seduced..to join in the rebellion. |
b. Used parenthetically or in loose construction.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. xxviii, She saw, as he lifted up his armes.., about one of them, unhappily, tied a garter. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 160 Lucio. With childe, perhaps? Claudio. Vnhappely, euen so. 1649 Bounds Publ. Obed. 2 The first Treatise, in which (and the unhappilier, to give foundation to practicable errors) they..mistake principles. 1697 Bentley Phal. (1699) 109 He had unhappily forgot it, when he writ this Epistle. 1728 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. III. 327 By being unhappily in the Company of those who committed it. 1796 F. Burney Camilla III. 388 But to all that was thus most fascinating to others, she joined unhappily all that was most dangerous for her⁓self. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 460 Unhappily the splendid qualities of John Churchill were mingled with alloy of the most sordid kind. 1890 Retrospect Med. CII. 340 But when this is unhappily not to be accomplished, a partial removal has obviously prolonged life. |
2. With evil fortune or mischance; evilly, miserably, wretchedly.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (Pelagia) 179, I..Þat has nocht anerly my-selfe Sonkyne in syne vnhapely. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 54 And ate laste unhappely This Hert his oghne houndes slowhe. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iv. 1489 Achilles axeþ how it is Amonge Grekis, & clerly how it stood... ‘Certis,’ quod he, ‘ful vnhappily’. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 20 But these lewde caitifs.., liuing vnhappily, In shame they liue, and wretchedly they dye. 1596 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 76 At the last maist unnaturally and unhappilie..fell out the lamentable slauchter of the saidis vmquhill James Stirling. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. ii. 157, I promise you, the effects he writes of, succeede vnhappily. a 1658 Lovelace Poems (1904) 134 Ah Victory! unhap'ly wonne, Weeping and Red is set the Sun. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 917, I..unweeting have offended, Unhappilie deceav'd. 1779 Warner in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) IV. 300 The giddy girl who married unhappily. 1781 Cowper Charity 632 If, unhappily deceiv'd, I dream, And prove too weak for so divine a theme. |
b. Unsuccessfully.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy i. xv. (S.T.S.) I. 86 Þe Sabynis faucht vnhappely in þis last battall. 1654 tr. Martini's Conq. China 55 So as if any fought unhappily,..the Governors hardly ever escaped alive. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xiii, One of those simple persons who manage so unhappily what they mean for civilities, that those to whom they are addressed receive them frequently in another sense. |
† 3. Mischievously, maliciously. Obs.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xviii. (Percy Soc.) 85 What man on live can use suche governaunce..but right pryvely Behinde his backe some sayth unhappely? 1549 Chaloner Erasm. on Folly G iij, They thynke unhappeliest in their herts, whan they speake smotheliest with their toungs. 1660 J. S. Andromana iii. iii, I know you always talk'd unhappily, And if your heart dare do what's ill, I know it can well teach your tongue excuses. |
† b. Unfavourably. Obs.—1
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. iv. 89 You are a Churchman, or Ile tell you Cardinall, I should iudge now vnhappily. |
† 4. Unpleasantly near the truth; shrewdly. Obs.
| 1577–82 Breton Toyes Idle Head Wks. (Grosart) I. 33/2 The iust occasion why, God knowes: and I, perhappes, can gesse vnhappily. 1584 Lyly Campaspe v. iv, Alex. Think you not, Hephestion, that she wold faine be commaunded? Hep. I am no thought catcher, but I gesse vnhappily. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. v. 13 Which..Indeed would make one thinke there would be thought, Though nothing sure, yet much vnhappily. |
† 5. Unfitly; unskilfully. Obs.
| 1602 Breton Wonders worth Hearing To Rdr., A few odde Wonders, that being vnhappily set downe, might passe away a little idle time to looke on. 1704 Swift T. Tub Pref., My genius being conceived to lie not unhappily that way. 1726 ― Gulliver iii. iv, On the contrary, I never knew a soil so unhappily cultivated. |
6. Without happiness or pleasure.
| 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii, He lives very unhappily with her, il vit fort mal avec elle. 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park ii, Fanny..grew up there not unhappily among her cousins. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvi, A village..where little Rawdon passed the first months of his life, not unhappily, with a numerous family of foster-brothers. |