Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Unsuccessful, unfortunate, full of hardship: Describes a state of experiencing repeated difficulties, failures, or misfortunes in life, career, or a specific endeavor. It implies a prolonged struggle against adversity.
   • Hard, rough, arduous: Describes a life or situation that is difficult, filled with obstacles, and requires great effort to endure.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Anh ấy đã có một cuộc sống lận đận từ nhỏ. (He has had an unfortunate/hard life since childhood.)
  • Cô ấy lận đận mãi trong chuyện thi cử. (She has been unsuccessful for a long time in her studies/exams.)
  • Con đường lập nghiệp của anh ta rất lận đận. (His path to building a career has been very arduous/full of hardship.)

Advanced Usage

• "lận đận tình duyên": to have an unfortunate/unlucky love life; to experience repeated setbacks in romantic relationships.
  • Cô ấy than thở về chuyện lận đận tình duyên. (She lamented her unfortunate love life.)
• "số phận lận đận": a fate full of hardship; an unlucky destiny.
  • Ông ấy tin rằng mình có một số phận lận đận. (He believes he has a fate full of hardship.)

Variants and Related Words

• Vất vả (adj): hard, toilsome. (Focuses more on the physical labor and effort involved.)
• Chật vật (adj): struggling, having a hard time. (Emphasizes the feeling of being trapped or squeezed by difficulties.)
• Khốn khó (adj): destitute, in dire straits. (Often implies severe poverty or distress.)
• Long đong (adj): drifting, unstable, experiencing vicissitudes. (Often describes an unstable life with many ups and downs.)

Synonyms

• Bất hạnh: unfortunate, unlucky.
• Truân chuyên: full of trials and tribulations (more literary).
• Gian truân: arduous, full of hardship.

Related Phrases / Idioms

• "Lận đận như con thuyền lênh đênh": (To be) adrift and full of hardship like a drifting boat. (An idiom emphasizing instability and misfortune.)
• "Lận đận kiếp người": the hardships of human life. (A poetic phrase about the struggles inherent in life.)

adj

1. unsucessful