Word Finder - misfortunes

definition

Bad luck

example

It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. - Ulysses S. Grant

definition

An undesirable event such as an accident

example

She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes.

He desires to end your misfortunes and restore you to your homes and families.

Custozza and Lissa were not Italys only misfortunes in i866.

Your misfortunes are cruel, but His Majesty the Emperor and King desires to arrest their course.

He remembered a general impression of the misfortunes and sufferings of people and of being worried by the curiosity of officers and generals who questioned him, he also remembered his difficulty in procuring a conveyance and horses, and above all he remembered his incapacity to think and feel all that time.

This latter question had not presented itself to the prophet's mind; his object was simply to correct the opinion of the people that their present misfortunes were due not to their own faults but to those of their predecessors.

At one end of the table, the old chamberlain was heard assuring an old baroness that he loved her passionately, at which she laughed; at the other could be heard the story of the misfortunes of some Mary Viktorovna or other.

A weak, giddy woman of no stability of character, her success turned her head and caused her to behave with insolence and impropriety, in strong contrast with Catherine's quiet dignity under her misfortunes.

The misfortunes of 1892 proved to be merely a preparation for the disasters of 1893, in which year occurred the most destructive drought within living memory.

It was one of the misfortunes of Palestine that it served as a Botany Bay, to which the criminals of the West were transported for penance.

Returning at the age of twenty-two he was compelled, through the misfortunes of his parents, to become a notary in the service of a wealthy kinsman, Osbert Huit Deniers, who was of some importance in London politics.

It appears to have been at some time between the dates of these two journeys that he visited Bologna and Auxerre, and began those studies in the canon law to which he was in no small degree indebted for his subsequent advancement and misfortunes.

Before the campaign of 1812 she accompanied the emperor to Dresden; but after that scene of splendour misfortunes crowded upon Napoleon.

Her beauty, grace and vivacity exercised a great charm over her contemporaries, the enthusiasm for her, however, being probably not merely personal but one inspired also by her misfortunes and by the fact that these misfortunes were incurred in defence of the Protestant cause; later, as the ancestress of the Protestant Hanoverian dynasty, she obtained a conspicuous place in English history.

It was one of the many misfortunes of Castile that the long reign of John II.

The Law company eventually came to an end fatal to its creditors in France, but its misfortunes did not check the prosperity of " Louisiana."

Its inland situation gave it relative security against the pirates who then infested West Indian seas, and the misfortunes of Santiago were the fortunes of Bayamo.

None of these poems show any very patriotic feeling, though Chartier's prose is evidence that he was not indifferent to the misfortunes of his country.

These were held responsible for the misfortunes of the army, and to escape the atmosphere of popular odium retired to their country seats and the provincial capitals.

Neglect of the worship of these heroes was held to be responsible for pestilence, bad crops and other misfortunes, while, on the other hand, if duly honoured, their influence was equally beneficent.

Heraclius made no attempt to retrieve the misfortunes of his generals, but evacuated his possessions in sullen despair.

These were The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, The Journal of the Plague Year, and The History of Colonel Jack.

The Spaniards, who were too thoroughly monarchical to blame the king, held his favourite responsible for the misfortunes of the country.

Here, notwithstanding his misfortunes and the efforts of his personal enemies, he was received and treated with great consideration.

In answer to the doctrine of final cause, of design in nature, he points to those things which cause destruction and danger to man, to the evil committed by men endowed with reason, to the miserable condition of humanity, and to the misfortunes that assail the good man.

It is in the simple narrative and naive egotism of Le Mie prigioni that he has established his strongest claim to remembrance, winning fame by his misfortunes rather than by his genius.

That the compiler is always unwilling to speak of the misfortunes of good rulers is not necessarily to be ascribed to a deliberate suppression of truth, but shows that the book was throughout composed not in purely historical interests, but with a view to inculcating a single practical lesson.

Augustine's City of God, published in 426, was an apologetic, not an historical work, but it had great influence in our field, for in it he undertook to answer the common heathen accusation that the growing misfortunes of the empire were due to the prevalence of Christianity and the forsaking of the gods of Rome.

He was already blind and too feeble to walk, when Cineas, the minister of Pyrrhus, visited him, but so vigorously did he oppose every concession that all the eloquence of Cineas was in vain, and the Romans forgot past misfortunes in the inspiration of Claudius's.

No one ever excelled him in daring and resource as a naval officer, but he suffered from serious defects of character, and even those who think him guiltless of the charge on which he was convicted in 1814 must feel that he had his own imprudence and want of self-command to thank for many of his misfortunes.

The general's object may probably have been to accentuate the harshness with which the fathers had been treated, and so to increase public sympathy, 1 but the actual result of his policy was blame for the cruelty with which he enhanced their misfortunes, for the poverty of Corsica made even a bare subsistence scarcely procurable for them there.

Must we then, on account of misfortunes, look with Solon at the end, and call no man happy till he is dead?

Virtuous activities determine happiness, and a virtuous man is happy in this life, in spite of misfortunes unless they be too great; while after death he will not feel the misfortunes of the living so much as to change his happiness.

But he cannot be acquitted of personal responsibility for his misfortunes.

He was faithful to his patron through his misfortunes, and after the Hundred Days remained in exile until 1819.

His book On the Causes of the Misfortunes of Denmark (1864) went through many editions, and his posthumous works were published in 4 vols., 1872-1874.

But Henry's misfortunes were largely of his own making.

His energy was temporarily paralysed by accumulated misfortunes.

So long as it stands erect, its possessor is well, but if it falls from its position the misfortunes of ill-health and madness at once assail him.

The citizens attributed their misfortunes to the "Castilian" government, and a strong party anong them favoured annexation by France.

His passionate disposition, however, embittered no doubt by his misfortunes, involved him in frequent difficulties and led to his quarrelling with Samuel.

But the misfortunes of the French armies during the earlier years of the war of the Spanish Succession compelled Louis to appoint Conti, whose military renown stood very high, to command the troops in Italy.

The whole of his ransom was never paid, and his absurdities and misfortunes gave the Estates opportunity to strengthen their constitutional position.

Andromache is one of the finest characters in Homer, distinguished by her affection for her husband and child, her misfortunes and the resignation with which she endures them.

Finally, with the Thirty Years' War, misfortunes came thick.

Among the Persians, stages are erected on that day in public places, and plays are acted, representing the misfortunes of the family of Ali.'

This prince was wandering in the deserts of Africa, pursued by his implacable enemies, but everywhere protected and concealed by the desert tribes, who pitied his misfortunes and respected his illustrious origin.

Abandoning all reserve, Vergniaud delivered one of the great orations of his life, depicting the misfortunes of the peasantry in language of such combined dignity, pathos and power that his fame as an orator spread far and wide.

Thus Israel survived its misfortunes.

The Dutch also mismanaged their affairs in Borneo and suffered from a series of misfortunes which led Marshal Daendels in 1809 to order the abandonment of all their posts.

These misfortunes, which were but partially retrieved by the suppression of a Bulgarian revolt (1073), caused widespread dissatisfaction.