pitiful vs hapless

pitiful and hapless both are adjectives.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
pitiful	No	Yes	No	No
hapless	No	Yes	No	No

As adjectives, pitiful and hapless are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of pitiful include miserable, misfortunate, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, poor, wretched.

pitiful (adjective)	hapless (adjective)
bad; unfortunate	deserving or inciting pity
inspiring mixed contempt and pity
deserving or inciting pity