"highly unfortunate" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It means something that is very regrettable or unlucky. Example: It was highly unfortunate that he missed the deadline for the project, as it resulted in the loss of a major client.
For the sport, this is a highly unfortunate scenario.
It is highly unfortunate that those efforts failed in this instance.
You could say he's highly unfortunate, but it simply happens too often.
It is highly unfortunate that we don't use a better measure.
With that the story moves from being a highly unfortunate, almost comical episode to being a serious major health scare.
But it is highly unfortunate too, because it fuels the fire of a bigger, scarier criticism, one present in every comment thread about this book.
The Ray Rice situation was highly disappointing and unfortunate, as I explained last week.
As we see it, the consequences of eliminating the electoral college not only are highly speculative but might be unfortunate, and unfortunate in a way that the more conservative proponents of reform do not seem to have anticipated.
Eugene Hickok, acting deputy secretary for elementary and secondary education at the federal Education Department, called the closing of programs for highly intelligent children an unfortunate, "unintended consequence" of No Child Left Behind.
I and many others have spent years debunking this unfortunate yet highly influential theory, but let's begin by noting that reasonable people make the reasonable argument that, under certain conditions, a tax cut that raises the after-tax wage or lowers the after-tax cost of capital could boost the supply of these critical variables, increase growth, and spin off some revenues.
The political problem for Obama is that the benefits of cheap goods are spread thinly across a large population, but the painful costs — layoffs and factory closures — are highly concentrated on an unfortunate few.
