#732. Failure. -- N. failure; nonsuccess[obs], nonfulfillment; dead failure, successlessness[obs]; abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen &c. 158[Lat]; labor in vain &c. (inutility) 645; no go; inefficacy[obs]; inefficaciousness &c. adj.; vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts; flash in the pan, "lame and impotent conclusion" [Othello]; frustration; slip 'twixt cup and lip &c. (disappointment) 509.
blunder &c. (mistake) 495; fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication|, footfall; false step, wrong step; faux pas[Fr], titubation[obs], bvue[Fr], faute[Fr], lurch; botchery &c. (want of skill) 699[obs]; scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown; flunk [U.S.].
mishap &c. (misfortune) 735; split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion.
repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture; beating, drubbing; quietus, nonsuit[obs], subjugation; checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate.
fall, downfall, ruin, perdition; wreck &c. (destruction) 162; deathblow; bankruptcy &c. (nonpayment) 808.
losing game, affaire flambe.
victim; bankrupt; flunker[obs], flunky [U.S.].
V. fail; be unsuccessful &c. adj.; not succeed &c. 731; make vain efforts &c.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 &c. (impossible) 471; roll the stones of Sisyphus &c. (useless) 645; do by halves &c. (not complete) 730; lose ground &c. (recede) 282; fall short of &c. 304.
miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays; slip, trip, stumble; make a slip &c., n. blunder &c. 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 &c. (blunder, mismanage) 699.
limp, halt, hobble, titubate[obs]; 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 &c. (adversity) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated &c. 731; have the worst of it, lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb &c. (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 &c. (descent) 305; go to wrack and ruin &c. (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 &c. (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.
Adj. unsuccessful, successless[obs]; failing, tripping &c.v.; at fault; unfortunate &c. 735.
abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient &c. (impotent) 158; insufficient &c. 640; unavailing &c. (useless) 645; of no effect.
aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited[obs]; foiled; defeated &c. 731; struck down, borne down, broken down; downtrodden; overborne, overwhelmed; all up with; ploughed, plowed, plucked.
lost, undone, ruined, broken; bankrupt &c. (not paying) 808; played out; done up, done for; dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe[obs], knocked on the head; destroyed &c. 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[obs], dished, hoist on one's own petard; victimized, sacrificed.
wide of the mark &c. (error) 495; out of one's reckoning &c. (inexpectation) 508[obs]; left in the lurch; thrown away &c. (wasted) 638; unattained; uncompleted &c. 730.
Adv. unsuccessfully &c. adj.; to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta[Lat].
Phr. the bubble has burst, , "the jig is up", "the game is up" [Cymbeline]; all is lost; the devil to pay; parturiunt montes &c. (disappointment) 509[Lat]; dies infaustus[Lat]; tout est perdu hors l'honneur[Fr].