failure

American  

[fayl-yer] / ˈfeɪl jər /

noun

• failures
  plural

1. an act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful; lack of success.

   His effort ended in failure.

   The campaign was a failure.

2. nonperformance of something due, required, or expected.

   a failure to do what one has promised;

   a failure to appear.

3. a subnormal quantity or quality; an insufficiency.

   the failure of crops.

4. deterioration or decay, especially of vigor, strength, etc..

   The failure of her health made retirement necessary.

5. a condition of being bankrupt by reason of insolvency.

6. a becoming insolvent or bankrupt.

   the failure of a bank.

7. a person or thing that proves unsuccessful.

   He is a failure in his career.

   The cake is a failure.

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failure British  

/ ˈfeɪljə /

noun

1. the act or an instance of failing

2. a person or thing that is unsuccessful or disappointing

   the evening was a failure

3. nonperformance of something required or expected

   failure to attend will be punished

4. cessation of normal operation; breakdown

   a power failure

5. an insufficiency or shortage

   a crop failure

6. a decline or loss, as in health or strength

7. the fact of not reaching the required standard in an examination, test, course, etc

8. the act or process of becoming bankrupt or the state of being bankrupt

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfailure
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• failures
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of failure

First recorded in 1635–45; fail + -ure; replacing failer “a fault, default,” from Anglo-French (noun use of infinitive), for Old French faillir

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Explanation

If you experience failure, things have not gone the way you'd hoped. I'm sorry to hear that your attempt to turn hay into gold has been a failure. Failure can also mean when something suddenly stops working or when you don't do something that you're expected to. A power failure might create an opportunity for a romantic candlelight dinner. Your failure to pay the electric bill may lead to a lot of romantic candlelight dinners, as long as you at least paid the gas bill. Someone who has no success in life a failure, as is an effort that doesn't work like your failure of a presidential campaign.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

failure failures

The settlement follows a December 2024 cease-and-desist order from US regulators that hit BofA for "unsafe or unsound practices," including failure to timely file suspicious activity reports.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

In fact, the only campaigns in which Milan did not reach the final were after their quarter-final second leg was abandoned because of floodlight failure while trailing Marseille in 1991.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

That specific failure is a bug, but being comfortable with its possibility is a feature.

From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026

Egged on by demagogues, Thucydides narrates, Athens embarked on a war of choice—the Sicilian expedition, the disastrous failure of which contributed to Athens’s eventual defeat in the Peloponnesian War.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The failure of bee colonies was caused by a wide range of factors, including but not limited to pathogens, pests, pesticides, pollutants, habitat loss, climate variability, agricultural production intensification, and crop management practices.

From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly

To avoid ethical failures, the author advises executives to write down their doubts, delay high-pressure decisions and trust their discomfort.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Fire Department’s own after-action report described major failures by high-ranking commanders in communication, staffing and basic wildland firefighting knowledge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

Cancer also involves abnormal cell behavior, including failures in the mechanisms that ordinarily regulate cell growth and division.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

But the government argues SWR's early period in public hands was affected by high summer temperatures, signal failures and trespass incidents.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Headmaster might have the right to talk about Neel’s failures, but how dare he drag Baba’s name through the mud?

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins

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Related Words

• bankruptcy
• breakdown
• collapse
• decline
• defeat
• deficiency
• deterioration
• failing
• loss
• misstep

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