Topic Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus

Failure

Nouns
  • failure
  • nonsuccess, nonfulfillment
  • dead failure, successlessness
  • abortion, miscarriage
  • labor in vain etc. (inutility) Inutility
  • no go
  • inefficacy
  • inefficaciousness etc. adj.
  • vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts
  • flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion" [Othello]
  • frustration
  • slip 'twixt cup and lip etc. (disappointment) [Failure of expectation.] Disappointment. blunder etc. (mistake) Error
  • fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall
  • false step, wrong step
  • titubation, lurch
  • botchery etc. (want of skill) Unskillfulness
  • scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown
  • flunk [U.S.]. mishap etc. (misfortune) Adversity
  • 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 etc. (destruction) [Nonproduction.] Destruction
  • deathblow
  • bankruptcy etc. (nonpayment) Nonpayment. losing game, affaire flamb_ee. victim
  • bankrupt
  • flunker, flunky [U.S.].
Verbs
  • fail
  • be unsuccessful etc. adj.
  • not succeed etc. Success
  • make vain efforts etc. n.
  • do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain
  • flunk [U.S.]
  • lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion
  • bring to naught, make nothing of
  • wash a blackamoor white etc. (impossible) Impossibility
  • roll the stones of Sisyphus etc. (useless) Inutility
  • do by halves etc. (not complete) Noncompletion
  • lose ground etc. (recede) [Motion forward; progressive motion.] Progression
  • fall short of etc. [motion short of] Shortcoming. miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays
  • slip, trip, stumble
  • make a slip etc. n.. blunder etc. Error, make a mess of, make a botch of
  • bitch it, miscarry, abort, go up like a rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot down, reckon without one's host
  • get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear etc. (blunder), )mismanage) Unskillfulness. limp, halt, hobble, titubate
  • fall, tumble
  • lose one's balance
  • fall to the ground, fall between two stools
  • flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock
  • beat one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall
  • break one's back
  • break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one
  • get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape
  • come to grief etc. (adversity) Adversity
  • go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot
  • lick the dust, bite the dust
  • be defeated etc. Success
  • have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose
  • fall a prey to
  • succumb etc. (submit) Submission
  • not have a leg to stand on. come to nothing, end in smoke
  • flat out
  • fall to the ground, fall through, fall dead, fall stillborn, fall flat
  • slip through one's fingers
  • hang fire, miss fire
  • flash in the pan, collapse
  • topple down etc. (descent) [Motion upwards] Ascent
  • go to wrack and ruin etc. (destruction) [Nonproduction.] Destruction. go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack
  • go on ill, come off ill, turn out ill, work ill
  • take a wrong term, take an ugly term
  • take an ugly turn, take a turn for the worse. be all over with, be all up with
  • explode
  • dash one's hopes etc. (disappoint) [Failure of expectation.] Disappointment
  • defeat the purpose
  • sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, go from the frying pan into the fire.
Adjectives
  • unsuccessful, successless
  • failing, tripping etc. v.
  • at fault
  • unfortunate etc. Adversity. abortive, addle, stillborn
  • fruitless, bootless
  • ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory
  • inefficient etc. (impotent) Impotence
  • insufficient etc. Insufficiency
  • unavailing etc. (useless) Inutility
  • of no effect. aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited
  • foiled
  • defeated etc. Success
  • struck down, borne down, broken down
  • downtrodden
  • overborne, overwhelmed
  • all up with
  • ploughed, plowed, plucked. lost, undone, ruined, broken
  • bankrupt etc. (not paying) Nonpayment
  • played out
  • done up, done for
  • dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head
  • destroyed etc. [Nonproduction.] Destruction. 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 etc. (error) Error
  • out of one's reckoning etc. (inexpectation) Inexpectation
  • left in the lurch
  • thrown away etc. (wasted) Waste
  • unattained
  • uncompleted etc. Noncompletion.
Adverbs
  • unsuccessfully etc. adj.
  • to little or no purpose, in vain
Phrases
  • the bubble has burst, the jig is up, " the game is up" [Cymbeline]
  • all is lost
  • the devil to pay