Roget's Thesaurus

#732. Failure

Nouns

failure; nonsuccess, nonfulfillment; dead failure, successlessness; abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen etc. 158 [Lat.]; labor in vain etc. (inutility) 645; 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) 509. blunder etc. (mistake) 495; fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall; false step, wrong step; faux pas [Fr.], faute [Fr.], lurch; botchery etc. (want of skill) 699; scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown; flunk [U.S.]. mishap etc. (misfortune) 735; 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) 162; deathblow; bankruptcy etc. (nonpayment) 808. losing game, affaire flambe. victim; bankrupt; flunker, flunky [U.S.].

Verbs

fail; be unsuccessful etc. adj.; not succeed etc. 731; 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) 471; roll the stones of Sisyphus etc. (useless) 645; do by halves etc. (not complete) 730; lose ground etc. (recede) 282; fall short of etc. 304. miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays; slip, trip, stumble; make a slip etc. n.. blunder etc. 495, 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) 699. 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) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated etc. 731; have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb etc. (submit) 725; 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) 305; go to wrack and ruin etc. (destruction) 162. 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) 509; 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. 735. abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient etc. (impotent) 158; insufficient etc. 640; unavailing etc. (useless) 645; of no effect. aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited; foiled; defeated etc. 731; struck down, borne down, broken down; downtrodden; overborne, overwhelmed; all up with; ploughed, plowed, plucked. lost, undone, ruined, broken; bankrupt etc. (not paying) 808; played out; done up, done for; dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head; destroyed etc. 162. 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) 495; out of one's reckoning etc. (inexpectation) 508; left in the lurch; thrown away etc. (wasted) 638; unattained; uncompleted etc. 730.

Adverbs

unsuccessfully etc. adj.; to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta [Lat.].

Phrases

the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up [Cymbeline]; all is lost; the devil to pay; parturiunt montes etc. (disappointment) 509 [Lat.]; dies infaustus [Lat.]; tout est perdu hors l'honneur [Fr.].