"hapless" in the adjective sense
1. hapless, miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, wretched
deserving or inciting pity
"a hapless victim"
"miserable victims of war"
"the shabby room struck her as extraordinarily pathetic"- Galsworthy
"piteous appeals for help"
"pitiable homeless children"
"a pitiful fate"
"Oh, you poor thing"
"his poor distorted limbs"
"a wretched life"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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