unsuccessful
adjective
Simple meaning
Not achieving the result that was wanted.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnsuhksehsfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənsəkˈsɛsfəl
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.
adjective
Not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome
Understand the Word
How this word is built, and what each part adds.
Unsuccessful describes an attempt that did not achieve its aim.
- un-
- not, or without
- success
- achieving what you aimed for
- -ful
- full of, marked by
Prefix function , Not — expresses absence of the quality
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome
Used this way, unsuccessful is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unsuccessful
- “Their attempt to bake a perfect cake was unfortunately unsuccessful.”adjective
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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.