failure

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: fail=ure
• COUNT in NET: 2 in 2 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses) (in NT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

failure, n. [From Fail.].

•  Cessation of supply, or total defect; a failing; deficiency; as, failure of rain; failure of crops.  [1913 Webster]
•  Omission; nonperformance; as, the failure to keep a promise.  [1913 Webster]
•  Want of success; the state of having failed.  [1913 Webster]
•  Decay, or defect from decay; deterioration; as, the failure of memory or of sight.  [1913 Webster]
•  A becoming insolvent; bankruptcy; suspension of payment; as, failure in business.  [1913 Webster]
•  A failing; a slight fault.  Johnson.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

failure, n.
1 lack of success; failing.
2 an unsuccessful person, thing, or attempt.
3 non-performance, non-occurrence.
4 breaking down or ceasing to function (heart failure; engine failure).
5 running short of supply etc.
6 bankruptcy, collapse.

Etymology

earlier failer f. AF, = OF faillir FAIL

THESAURUS

failure

Grand Guignol, Passion play, Sisyphean labor, Tom show, Waterloo, also-ran, antimasque, arrear, arrearage, arrears, atrocity, audience success, bad habit, bafflement, balk, ballet, bankrupt, bankruptcy, baseness, beating, besetting sin, betrayed hope, blasted expectation, blemish, blighted hope, blow, bomb, bootlessness, botch, bouncing check, breach, breakdown, broadcast drama, buffet, bug, burlesque show, bust, catch, charade, clerical error, cliff hanger, closet drama, collapse, comedown, comedy drama, conquering, conquest, corrigendum, counterproductiveness, counterproductivity, crack, crash, crime, crime against humanity, critical success, cruel disappointment, culpa, culpable negligence, dash, dashed hope, daytime serial, dead duck, deadly sin, dearth, deathblow, debacle, debasement, debilitation, decadence, decadency, decay, declension, declination, decline, defalcation, default, defeat, defect, defection, defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, deformation, degeneracy, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, delinquency, demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, dereliction, derogation, descent, destruction, deterioration, devolution, dialogue, disappointment, discomfiture, disconformity, discontinuance, disillusionment, disregard, dissatisfaction, documentary drama, downfall, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drama, dramalogue, dramatic play, dramatic series, drawback, drop, drubbing, dud, duodrama, duologue, dying, ebb, ebbing, effeteness, endless task, enfeeblement, enormity, epic theater, erratum, error, evil, exhaustion, experimental theater, extravaganza, fading, failing, failure of nerve, fall, fallen countenance, falling short, falling-off, false alarm, fatuity, fault, faute, felony, fewness, fiasco, fizzle, flagging, flaw, flop, foible, foiling, folding, forlorn hope, frailty, frustration, futility, gasser, genocide, giveaway, guilty act, happening, hash, heavy sin, hiding, hit, hit show, hole, hope deferred, human error, imperfection, impropriety, improvisational drama, inadequacy, inadvertence, inadvertency, inanity, inattention, incompetence, incompetent, indifference, indiscretion, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, ineffectualness, inefficaciousness, inefficacy, inexecution, inexpiable sin, inferiority, infirmity, iniquity, injury, injustice, inobservance, insolvency, insolvent, insolvent debtor, insufficiency, insufficient funds, invalidity, involution, kink, kited check, laches, lack, laissez-faire, lambasting, lame duck, lapse, lathering, laxity, laxness, legitimate drama, lemon, letdown, licking, little problem, littleness, loose ends, looseness, loser, loss, loss of tone, maladroitness, malefaction, malfeasance, malum, masque, mastery, meagerness, meanness, mediocrity, melodrama, minor wrong, minstrel show, miracle, miracle play, mirage, misapprehension, miscalculation, miscarriage, misconception, miscount, misdeal, misdeed, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misidentification, misjudgment, misplay, misprint, misquotation, misreport, miss, misstatement, mistake, misunderstanding, misuse, monodrama, monologue, moral flaw, morality, morality play, mortal sin, muddle, music drama, musical revue, mystery, mystery play, neglect, neglectfulness, negligence, no go, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, nonadherence, noncompliance, nonconformance, nonconformity, nonconsummation, nondischarging, nonentity, nonexecution, nonfeasance, nonfulfillment, noninterference, nonobservance, nonperformance, nonrestriction, nonsuccess, offense, omission, opera, outrage, overcoming, overdraft, overdrawn account, overlooking, oversight, overthrow, overturn, pageant, panel show, pantomime, pastoral, pastoral drama, paucity, peccadillo, peccancy, permissiveness, pettiness, piece, play, playlet, poor stewardship, poorness, problem, problem play, procrastination, psychodrama, quietus, quiz show, radio drama, receivership, regression, remissness, retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, review, revue, rift, rough edges, ruin, scantiness, sensational play, serial, setback, shabbiness, short measure, shortage, shortcoming, shortfall, show, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, sitcom, situation comedy, sketch, skimpiness, skit, slackness, slight, slip, slippage, slump, smallness, smash, snag, soap, soap opera, sociodrama, something missing, sore disappointment, spectacle, stage play, stage show, straight drama, subdual, subduing, subjugation, subnormality, success, suspense drama, tableau, tableau vivant, taint, talk show, tantalization, tease, teleplay, television drama, television play, theater of cruelty, thrashing, tort, total theater, transgression, trespass, trimming, trip, triviality, trouncing, typo, typographical error, unconcern, underage, undoing, unfulfillment, unobservance, unrigorousness, unskillfulness, unsuccess, unsuccessfulness, unutterable sin, uselessness, vanquishment, variety show, vaudeville, vaudeville show, vehicle, venial sin, vice, vulgarity, vulnerable place, wane, waning, washout, weak link, weak point, weak side, weakness, whipping, word-of-mouth success, work, work of Penelope, wrong

ROGET THESAURUS

failure

Unskillfulness

N unskillfulness, want of skill, incompetence, incompentency, inability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperience, disqualification, unproficiency, quackery, folly, stupidity indiscretion, thoughtlessness, sabotage, mismanagement, misconduct, impolicy, maladministration, misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance, petticoat government, absence of rule, rule of thumb, bungling, failure, screw loose: too many cooks, blunder, etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise, botch, botchery, bad job, sad work, sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild- goose chase, bungler, fool, unskillful, inexpert, bungling, awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit, left-handed, heavy-handed, slovenly, slatternly, gawky, adrift, at fault, inapt, unapt, inhabile, untractable, unteachable, giddy, inconsiderate, stupid inactive, incompetent, unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified, unfit, quackish, raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice, unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c, uninitiated, unconversant, shiftless, unstatesmanlike, unadvised, ill-advised, misadvised, ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted, unguided, misguided, misconducted, foolish, wild, infelicitous, penny wise and pound foolish, one's fingers being all thumbs, the right hand forgets its cunning, il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau, incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim, out of the frying pan into the fire, non omnia possumus omnes.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Adversity

N adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin, unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.

Nonobservance

N nonobservance, evasion, inobservance, failure, omission, neglect, laches, laxity, informality, infringement, infraction, violation, transgression, piracy, retraction, retractation, repudiation, nullification, protest, forfeiture, lawlessness, disobedience, bad faith, violating, lawless, transgressive, elusive, evasive, unfulfilled &c (fulfill).

Nonpayment

N nonpayment, default, defalcation, protest, repudiation, application of the sponge, whitewashing, insolvency, bankruptcy, failure, insufficiency, run upon a bank, overdrawn account, waste paper bonds, dishonored bills, protested bills, bogus check, bogus cheque, rubber check, bankrupt, insolvent, debtor, lame duck, man of straw, welsher, stag, defaulter, levanter, not paying, non-paying, non-performing, in debt, behindhand, in arrear, behind in payments, in arrears, beggared, unable to make both ends meet, minus, worse than nothing, worthless, insolvent, bankrupt, in the gazette, gazetted, unpaid, gratis, unremunerated.

Impotence

N impotence, inability, disability, disablement, impuissance, imbecility, incapacity, incapability, inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity, indocility, invalidity, disqualification, inefficiency, wastefulness, telum imbelle, brutum fulmen, blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil, dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy, paper tiger, Quaker gun, inefficacy, failure, helplessness, prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration, deliquium, collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition, emasculation, orchiotomy, orchotomy, cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle, eunuch, powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, inept, unfit, unfitted, unqualified, disqualified, unendowed, inapt, unapt, crippled, disabled, armless, harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu, unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable, paralytic, paralyzed, palsied, imbecile, nerveless, sinewless, marrowless, pithless, lustless, emasculate, disjointed, out of joint, out of gear, unnerved, unhinged, water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless, laid on one's back, done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized, graveled, helpless, unfriended, fatherless, without a leg to stand on, hors de combat, laid on the shelf, null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing, ineffectual, inadequate, inefficacious, der kranke Mann, desirous still but impotent to rise, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Dereliction of Duty

N dereliction of duty, fault, sin, non-observance, non-performance, neglect, relaxation, infraction, violation, transgression, failure, evasion, dead letter.

Vice

N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.

Guilt

N guilt, guiltiness, culpability, criminality, criminousness, deviation from rectitude, sinfulness, misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed, malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression, dereliction, delinquency, indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas, peccadillo, flaw, blot, omission, failing, failure, break, bad break!, capital crime, delictum, offense, trespass, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision, malefaction, malfeasance, malversation, crime, felony, enormity, atrocity, outrage, deadly sin, mortal sin, deed without a name, corpus delicti, guilty, to blame, culpable, peccable, in fault, at fault, censurable, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, illaudable, weighed in the balance and found wanting, exceptionable, in flagrante delicto, red-handed, in the very act, with one's hand in the cookie jar, cui prodest scelus in fecit, culpam paena premit comes, O would the deed were good!, responsibility prevents crimes se judice nemo noce, so many laws argues so many sins.

Shortcoming

N shortcoming, failure, falling short, default, defalcation, leeway, labor in vain, no go, incompleteness, imperfection, insufficiency, noncompletion, failure, unreached, deficient, short, short of, minus, out of depth, perfunctory, within the mark, within the compass, within the bounds, behindhand, re infecta, to no purpose, for from it, the bubble burst, shortcoming, failure, falling short, default, defalcation, leeway, labor in vain, no go, incompleteness, imperfection, insufficiency, noncompletion, failure, unreached, deficient, short, short of, minus, out of depth, perfunctory, within the mark, within the compass, within the bounds, behindhand, re infecta, to no purpose, for from it, the bubble burst.