ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck,
hard lot; frowns of fortune; evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius†;
vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes; hard
case, hard lines, hard life; sea of troubles; peck of troubles; hell
upon earth; slough of despond.
trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure.
pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint; hard
times, bad times, sad times; rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering
clouds, ill wind; visitation, infliction; affliction &c (painfulness)
830; bitter pill; care, trial; the sport of fortune.
mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune; disaster, calamity,
catastrophe; accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps,
rub; backset†, comedown, setback [U.S.].
losing game; falling &c v.; fall, downfall; ruination,
ruinousness; undoing; extremity; ruin &c (destruction) 162.
V. be ill off &c adj.; go hard with; fall on evil, fall on evil days;
go on ill; not prosper &c 734.
go downhill, go to rack and ruin &c (destruction) 162, go to the
dogs; fall, fall from one's high estate; decay, sink, decline, go down
in the world; have seen better days; bring down one's gray hairs with
sorrow to the grave; come to grief; be all over, be up with; bring a
wasp's nest about one's ears, bring a hornet's nest about one's ears.
Adj. unfortunate, unblest†, unhappy, unlucky; improsperous†,
unprosperous; hoodooed [U.S.]; luckless, hapless; out of luck; in
trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight; under a cloud; clouded; ill
off, badly off; in adverse circumstances; poor &c 804; behindhand, down
in the world, decayed, undone; on the road to ruin, on its last legs,
on the wane; in one's utmost need.
planet-struck, devoted; born under an evil star, born with a
wooden ladle in one's mouth; ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened.
adverse, untoward; disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire,
deplorable.