The phrase "a terrible misfortune" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe an unfortunate event or situation that has caused significant distress or hardship.
Example: "Losing her job during the pandemic was a terrible misfortune that affected her family's financial stability."
Alternatives: "a great tragedy" or "a significant calamity".
Before Maisie can fully comprehend her assignment from Miss Grange, a terrible misfortune befalls the young woman's family and she must return home to Brooklyn.
Would this be a disaster, or merely, as with Vietnam, a terrible misfortune for which the United States could compensate through a contemporary version of Mr. Kennan's "intelligent long-range policies"?
In other words, even after a terrible misfortune (like getting in a car accident) or a fantastic stroke of good luck (like winning the lottery) people usually feel "normal" again fairly quickly.
It was sad to see Giorgio Chiellini go lame after 20 minutes, and Antonio Cassano withdrawn at half-time, and then, in a stroke of terrible misfortune, Thiago Motta pull up only four minutes after coming on as the third and final substitute just before the hour.
He and a friend were just minding their own business, trying to hail a cab on Eighth Avenue, when they had the terrible misfortune to be approached for no good reason by a hyperactive undercover cop.
It's as pure and harrowing a last shot as those of John Ford's "7 Women" and Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Gertrud" — an image that, if by some terrible misfortune were to be Scorsese's last, would rank among the most harshly awe-inspiring farewells of the cinema.
But the section headed "the last word" – the closer, if you will – takes on a somewhat ominous tone, suggesting that as your dissatisfaction with your living situation grows, or – Heaven forbid – should terrible misfortune befall your family, there'll come a time you wish for prime minister Shorten.
And so we have the plight of this very excited "Price Is Right" contestant, who had the terrible misfortune of snagging her flip-flop on a decorative floor mat immediately after winning the show's "most expensive" category.
"Lee was a normal, loving young man in the army who had the terrible misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Keep a spare change of clothes in a waterproof bag, just in case everything in the tent gets wet by some terrible misfortune.
O, what terrible misfortune.
