failure

[feyl-yer]

noun

1. an act or instance of failing fail 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.

failure

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• nonfailure noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of failure¹

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

Example Sentences

“This is not a tragedy of bad luck, this is a tragedy of corporate failures.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For 20 years the Home Office has been blighted with regular and well-documented failures to manage asylum seekers.

Read more on BBC

For Senate Democrats, the only way to deal with that failure was to demand more taxpayer-funded premium subsidies to keep Obamacare afloat.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Now the budget is stretched by too many expensive projects, low oil prices and failure to attract investment at the level the kingdom had hoped.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“The unfairness of the second Masterson trial was the result of prosecutorial misconduct, judicial bias, and the failure of defense counsel to present exculpatory evidence,” he said in a statement.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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