noun
1 lack of success : an economic policy that is doomed to failure | the failures of his policies.
• an unsuccessful person, enterprise, or thing : bad weather had resulted in crop failures.
• lack of success in passing an examination or test : exam failure.
• a grade that is not high enough to pass an examination or test.
2 the omission of expected or required action : their failure to comply with the basic rules.
• a lack or deficiency of a desirable quality : a failure of imagination.
3 the action or state of not functioning : symptoms of heart failure | an engine failure.
• a sudden cessation of power.
• the collapse of a business.
ORIGIN mid 17th cent. (originally as failer, in the senses [nonoccurrence] and [cessation of supply] ): from Anglo-Norman French failer for Old French faillir (see fail ).
failure
noun
1 the failure of the assassination attempt lack of success, nonfulfillment, defeat, collapse, foundering. antonym success.
2 all his schemes had been a failure fiasco, debacle, catastrophe, disaster; informal flop, megaflop, washout, dead loss, snafu, clinker, dud, no-go. antonym success.
3 she was regarded as a failure loser, underachiever, ne’er-do-well, disappointment; informal no-hoper, dead loss, dud, write-off. antonym success.
4 his failure in duty negligence, dereliction; omission, oversight.
5 a crop failure inadequacy, insufficiency, deficiency, dearth, scarcity, shortfall.
6 the failure of the camera breaking down, breakdown, malfunction; crash.
7 company failures collapse, crash, bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, closure. antonym success.