From Middle English unhappy; equivalent to un- + happy.

• IPA: /ʌnˈhæpi/

unhappy (comparative unhappier, superlative unhappiest)

1. Not happy; sad.
   • 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera:

     A moment of time may make us unhappy forever.

2. Not satisfied; unsatisfied.

   An unhappy customer is unlikely to return to your shop.

3. (mostly, dated) Not lucky; unlucky.

   The doomed lovers must have been born under an unhappy star.

4. (mostly, dated) Not suitable; unsuitable.
   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC ↗:

     The people, if they are not strangely bent
     Against our welfare, never will consent
     To this unhappy match, foreboding ill:
     What's it to us, if th' adverse nation will?

• (not happy) See Thesaurus:sad

• happy
• glad
• delighted
• exuberant
• joyous
• joyful

• French: malheureux, triste
• German: unglücklich
• Italian: triste, rattristato, mogio, abbacchiato, afflitto, avvilito, malinconico, mesto, infelice, egro
• Portuguese: infeliz, triste
• Russian: несча́стный
• Spanish: infeliz

• French: mécontent
• Italian: scontento, amareggiato, sconfortato, depresso, demoralizzato
• Russian: недово́льный

• Italian: sfortunato, sfigato, iellato
• Russian: неуда́чный

• Italian: inadatto, infelice
• Russian: неподходя́щий

unhappy (plural unhappies)

1. A person who is not happy.
   • 1972, The New Yorker (volume 48, part 1, page 109)

     Leduc, as is true of many other unhappies, is largely a confessional writer: her subject is herself, and her gift is a driving, vivacious power that turns her incurable, inveterate unhappiness into a series of dramas […]

unhappy (unhappies, present participle unhappying; simple past and past participle unhappied)

1. To make or become unhappy; to sadden.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act 3, scene 1]:

     A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
     By you unhappied and disfigured clean