failure

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA: /ˈfeɪlˌjɚ/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir (“to fail”).

Noun

failure (plural failures)

1. State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, BBC Sport:

     For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.

   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, the Guardian:

     Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.

2. An object, person or endeavour in a state of failure or incapable of success.
3. Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function, breakdown.

Related terms

• fail

Synonyms

• (person incapable of success): loser

Antonyms

• (state or condition): success, triumph

Translations

state of condition opposite success

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: неуспех (bg) (neuspeh) m, несполука (bg) (nespoluka) f
• Catalan: fracàs (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎤᏄᎸᎲᏍᎩ (chr) (unulvhvsgi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 失敗 (cmn), 失败 (cmn) (shībài)

• Czech: nezdar (cs) m, neúspěch (cs) m, selhání (cs) n
• Danish: fiasko (da)
• Dutch: mislukking (nl) f, faling (nl) f, fout (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: epäonnistuminen (fi)
• French: échec (fr) m
• German: Misserfolg (de) m, Ausfall (de) m, Verschlechterung (de) f
• Greek: αποτυχία (el) (apotychía) f
• Hebrew: כשלון (he) m
• Ido: fiasko (io)
• Irish: meath (ga) m

• Italian: fallimento (it) m, insuccesso (it) f, avaria (it) f
• Japanese: 失敗 (ja) (しっぱい, shippai)
• Khmer: សេចក្ដីខ្វះ (km) (səchkdəy kvah)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kyrgyz: жол болбоо (ky) (col bolboo), иш ордунан чыкпай калуу (ky) (iş ordunan çıkpay kaluu)
• Latvian: neizdošanās (lv), neveiksme (lv)
• Norwegian: fiasko (no) m, misære (no) m
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: niepowodzenie (pl) n, porażka (pl) f
• Portuguese: falha (pt) f, fracasso (pt) m
• Romanian: eşec (ro) n
• Russian: провал (ru) (provál) m, крах (ru) (krax) m
• Scottish Gaelic: fàilligeadh (gd) m
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: neuspeh (sl) m
• Spanish: fallo (es) m, fracaso (es) m
• Swedish: misslyckande (sv)
• Telugu: వైఫల్యం (te) (vaiphalyaM)

object or person incapable of success

• Bulgarian: неудачник (bg) (neudačnik) m
• Dutch: mislukkeling (nl) m and f (person), mislukking (nl) f (thing)
• French: raté (fr) m

• German: Versager (de) m, Versagerin (de) f
• Polish: nieudacznik (pl) m, brak (pl) m (thing)
• Spanish: fracasado (es) m

termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function

• Arabic: عطل (ar) (ʿuṭl) m
• Bulgarian: повреда (bg) (povreda) f
• Catalan: fracàs (ca) m
• Czech: porucha (cs) f
• Danish: nedbrud (da) n, svigt (da) n
• Dutch: mislukking (nl) f
• Finnish: vika (fi)

• French: panne (fr) f
• Irish: meath (ga) m, meathlú (ga) m
• Norwegian: svikt (no) m
• Polish: awaria (pl) f, defekt (pl) m
• Russian: поломка (ru) (polómka) f, выход из строя (ru) (výxod iz strója) m, сбой (ru) (sboj) m
• Scottish Gaelic: fàilligeadh (gd) m