failure
an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success: His effort ended in failure.The campaign was a failure.
nonperformance of something due, required, or expected: a failure to do what one has promised;a failure to appear.
a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency: the failure of crops.
deterioration or decay, especially of vigor, strength, etc.: The failure of her health made retirement necessary.
a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency.
a becoming insolvent or bankrupt: the failure of a bank.
a person or thing that proves unsuccessful: He is a failure in his career.The cake is a failure.
Origin of failure
1Other words from failure
- non·fail·ure, noun
Words Nearby failure
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use failure in a sentence
Each of these failures compounded and led to the current US death toll — and local and state governments, as hard as some tried, simply don’t have the resources to fight a pandemic on their own as the federal government flails.
Trump says US Covid-19 deaths would be low if you excluded blue states. That’s wrong. | German Lopez | September 17, 2020 | VoxAs recently as 2017, the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issued a report outlining continuing failures by the state to police water pollution by coal companies.
This Billionaire Governor’s Coal Company Might Get a Big Break From His Own Regulators | by Ken Ward Jr. | September 17, 2020 | ProPublicaI wish I would have gotten that memo or a fax perhaps in the ’90s, but on the other side of it, I don’t even know how many hours, hundreds of hours, of therapy and public failures later.
But, I mean, if I worked at Netflix, I might think, “Well, maybe I will get fired if it’s a big enough failure, if I actually screw up enough.”
What if Your Company Had No Rules? (Bonus Episode) | Maria Konnikova | September 12, 2020 | FreakonomicsThe heart can recover from myocarditis, but in rare cases, the condition can damage the heart muscle enough to lead to heart failure.
College athletes show signs of possible heart injury after COVID-19 | Aimee Cunningham | September 11, 2020 | Science News
“I think it is important to say it is too soon to judge success or failure,” said Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War | Nancy A. Youssef | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTIn doing so he exposed the failure of other airlines in the region to see the huge pent-up demand for cheap travel.
Annoying Airport Delays Might Prevent You From Becoming the Next AirAsia 8501 | Clive Irving | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTMeanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement deploring the state GOP for its failure to censure Duke.
In short, we found ways to couch messages of failure or inadequacy.
Random Hook-Ups or Dry Spells: Why Millennials Flunk College Dating | Ellie Schaack | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTfailure to bond to their parents was the prominent reason children were being given away.
That which is called nasality is caused by the failure of the tone to reach freely the anterior cavities of the nares.
Expressive Voice Culture | Jessie Eldridge SouthwickMarriage is like Mayonnaise sauce, either a great success or an absolute and entire failure.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsJoachim, as time showed, never forgave the Emperor for the failure of his cherished plan.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonWhen trusted with anything like the command of a mixed body of troops he proved an utter failure.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonHe consented to the trial, receiving Planner's solemn promise that, in the event of failure, it should be the last.
British Dictionary definitions for failure
/ (ˈfeɪljə) /
the act or an instance of failing
a person or thing that is unsuccessful or disappointing: the evening was a failure
nonperformance of something required or expected: failure to attend will be punished
cessation of normal operation; breakdown: a power failure
an insufficiency or shortage: a crop failure
a decline or loss, as in health or strength
the fact of not reaching the required standard in an examination, test, course, etc
the act or process of becoming bankrupt or the state of being bankrupt
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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