A word to describe a person whose wishes or desires never comes true

Question

Is there a word that can be used to describe a person whose wishes or desires never come true? In other words, the person in question never had any of his past wishes or desires fulfilled. The word could be a noun or an adjective.

Example Sentence:

In the last 20 years, John had made several wishes, mostly related to his career growth and physical well-being. However, in all these years, none of those wishes ever came true.

With respect to the above example, is there a word to describe an individual like John, whose wishes/desires never came true?

John was ____.

OR

John was a _____.

While researching this question I was trying to figure out if words like unlucky or unfortunate would fit in this case. Probably they would, but as such these words can be used to describe any situation where the outcome of an event was negative. It does not necessarily have to do with the fulfillment of past wishes or desires.

For instance, heavy snowstorm delayed the departure of my flight by 5 hours. But I never had a wish that my flight takes off at the right time. So in this case I can use words like unlucky, unfortunate to describe myself with respect to this situation.

Similarly, can we probably use the word cursed to describe such a person? However, a curse is a wish for something evil or unpleasant to happen to someone or something. It is not necessarily related to some unfulfilled wishes/desires. Unless of course someone is cursed that his wishes/desires will never be fulfilled.

I'm looking for word/s that can specifically be used with respect to past wishes, desires never being fulfilled.

Answer 1

If his dreams are not fulfilled,

John is unfulfilled

From Dictionary. com:

not yet achieved:
his unfulfilled dreams..

not happy or satisfied, from not having achieved one’s desires or full potential:
I was feeling unfulfilled in my job

Answer 2

It doesn't have to be a sad-sack naturally unlucky person. In fact, it could be quite the opposite.

The person could simply have the kind of personality that sets themselves up for failure.

A Pollyanna, an optimist, an idealist, etc. are some types of this personality.

They keep their eye on the goal too much, assuming they will succeed and meanwhile ignoring the possibility that even one of the required intermediate steps will go wrong.

Answer 3

It depends if the person is the reason why the wishes are never fulfilled. If they are the reason, you could use synonyms for 'cursed' such as 'doomed', 'jinxed' or 'ill-fated'. If they are not the reason then they are either unlucky, e.g. 'unfortunate' or 'wretched', or they are wishing for the unlikely / impossible. I'm not aware of a good phrase, but I hope this is some help.

Answer 4

You could say “John was a schlimazel”:

Yiddish: consistently unlucky person