failure
noun
Simple meaning
State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
faylyerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfeɪljɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
Lack of success
“He felt that his entire life had been a failure.”
Loss of ability to function normally
Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function; breakdown.
An unexpected omission
“He resented my failure to return his call.”
An object, person or endeavour in a state of failure, has failed at something or incapable of success.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
Used this way, failure is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Lacknoun
“He felt that his entire life had been a failure.”
Unexpectednoun
“He resented my failure to return his call.”
More ways to use failure
- “He felt that his entire life had been a failure.”noun
- “He resented my failure to return his call.”noun
- “The surprise party was a complete failure.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Renal failure associated with burns or other trauma or with acute infection or obstruction of the urinary tract.
The inability of a bank to meet its credit obligations.
Brakes fail to stop a vehicle.
Renal failure that can result from a variety of systemic disorders.
Renal failure that can result from a variety of systemic disorders.
Failure of the cardiovascular system to supply adequate amounts of blood to body tissues.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.