failure meaning
- An act that fails
"his failure to pass the test" - An event that does not accomplish its intended purpose
"the surprise party was a complete failure" - Lack of success
"he felt that his entire life had been a failure"; "that year there was a crop failure" - A person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently
- loser, nonstarter, unsuccessful person, no-hoper - An unexpected omission
"he resented my failure to return his call"; "the mechanic's failure to check the brakes" - Inability to discharge all your debts as they come due
"fraudulent loans led to the failure of many banks"
- bankruptcy - Loss of ability to function normally
"kidney failure"
Derived forms: failures
See also: fail
Type of: circumstances, destiny, disorder, fate, fortune, happening, insolvency, lot, luck, natural event, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, occurrence, occurrent, omission, portion, skip, unfortunate, unfortunate person, upset
Antonym: success
Encyclopedia: Failure
[Architecture]
In structural engineering, that condition of a structural element (or its material components) which renders it incapable of continuing the load-carrying function for which it was designed; may be caused by fracture or by excessive and permanent plastic deformation.
[Business]
noun
AUDIT FAILURE, MARKET FAILURE
1 [U]
lack of success in doing or achieving sth:
The company's failure to meet sales targets resulted in serious problems.
the failure of the company's marketing strategy
the problems of economic failure and increasing unemployment
The success or failure of the plan depends on you.
2 [C]
somebody or something that is not successful:
He was a failure as a manager.
The project suffered from too many mistakes and failures.
3 [U,C]
an act of not doing sth, especially sth that you are expected to do:
Failure to comply with the regulations will result in prosecution.
4 [C,U]
a situation in which a business has to close because it is not successful:
Business failures dropped by 6% last year.
New companies suffer from a high failure rate.
5 [U,C]
(about a machine or system) the state of not working correctly or as expected; an occasion when this happens:
The crash was caused by engine failure.
a systems/technical failure
[Electronics]
The condition wherein a circuit, system, or device is not operating correctly.
- shear failure, failure by rupture: [Architecture]Fail ...
- abortion failure: [Medicine]Intentio ...
- adhesive failure: [Architecture]The ...
Examples
More: Next- it was impossible to associate failure with him ...
- do n't judge a person by his success or failure.
- yielding can properly be termed failure.
- his failure has been the making of him.
- clearly, there was an intelligence failure.
