mishap
Don’t cry over spilled milk, it is just a minor mishap — a misfortune. If the surgeon operates on the wrong leg when you go in for knee surgery? Now, that’s a mishap to get upset about.
You might assume that hap is short for happening, but it is actually an Old Norse word for “luck.” So with mis (“bad”) in front of it, it literally means “bad luck.” Mishaps can be accidents of great consequence or minimal consequence. People often say that an event went off “without a mishap,” meaning that it went smoothly. Hopefully this will be the case if you ever get knee surgery.
Definitions of mishap
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an unpredictable outcome that is unfortunate
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an instance of misfortune
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synonyms:
misadventure, mischance-
types:
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accident
an unfortunate mishap; especially one causing damage or injury
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near miss
an accidental collision that is narrowly avoided
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derailment
an accident in which a train runs off its track
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ground loop
a sharp uncontrollable turn made by an airplane while moving along the ground
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puncture
loss of air pressure in a tire when a hole is made by some sharp object
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slip, trip
an accidental misstep threatening (or causing) a fall
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crash
(computer science) an event that causes a computer system to become inoperative
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fall, spill, tumble
a sudden drop from an upright position
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collision
an accident resulting from violent impact of a moving object
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crash, wreck
a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles)
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accidental injury, injury
an accident that results in physical damage or hurt
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shipwreck, wreck
an accident that destroys a ship at sea
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casualty, fatal accident
an accident that causes someone to die
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head crash
(computer science) a crash of a read/write head in a hard disk drive (usually caused by contact of the head with the surface of the magnetic disk)
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type of:
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bad luck, misfortune
unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event
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