down on one's luck
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.26 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
1
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Unlucky or undergoing a period of bad luck, especially with respect to financial matters.
Example Sentences
- "I'm sorry to hear you are down on your luck ;"
- "If Crabtree is down on his luck he will most likely be willing to do anything for money."
- "He is down on his luck. He asked me to ask you to ask somebody named Boylan, a billsticker, to give him a job as a sandwichman."
- "Willie "tries to resist"—being, as the synopsis explains, "an attractive and intelligent girl who is simply down on her luck in the ruins of postwar Germany.""
- "When you're down on your luck (oh-oh-oh) / Don′t you know? you gotta pass the buck (get it off me)"
- "Pitcher Kyle Lohse, 29, who has had unsuccessful stints with the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, seems to have found a home with the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that has a knack for turning around pitchers down on their luck."
Inflected Forms
more down on one's luck (comparative)
most down on one's luck (superlative)