failure B1 Topic:General Vocabulary US /ˈfeɪ.ljəɹ/ UK /ˈfeɪ.ljə/ See IPA manual Freq #2601 Meanings 1 noun A lack of success in doing something. His business ended in complete failure. 2 noun Someone or something that does not succeed. The surprise party was a total failure. 3 noun The fact of not doing something you should have done. His failure to pass the test got him in trouble. 4 noun The act of stopping working or breaking down. The crash was caused by engine failure. Thesaurus Synonyms fail ↔ Opposites successtriumph Word family Forms failures Derived forms failurelessfailureproofgirlfailuremicrofailurenonfailurepostfailure Related forms failfail-fastfail-safefail-stop Appears in Phrases (1) See all equipment failure a situation in which machinery or another device stops working properly Noun + noun Proverbs (7) See all Failure is never final Failure is not falling down but staying down Failure teaches success Pain is temporary, failure is forever Success comes in cans, failure in can'ts Success is never final Matching variant: Success is never final and failure is never fatal Etymology AI details From Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir (“to fail”). Equivalent to fail + -ure. failer xno faillir Old French View etymology graph -> Topics General Vocabulary External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # failure **Type:** Word **Level:** B1 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈfeɪ.ljəɹ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈfeɪ.ljə/ **Frequency rank:** 2601 ## Meanings 1. A lack of success in doing something. 2. Someone or something that does not succeed. 3. The fact of not doing something you should have done. 4. The act of stopping working or breaking down. ## Examples - His business ended in complete failure. - The surprise party was a total failure. - His failure to pass the test got him in trouble. - The crash was caused by engine failure. ## Synonyms - fail ## Antonyms - success - triumph ## Derived Forms - failureless - failureproof - girlfailure - microfailure - nonfailure - postfailure ## Related Forms - fail - fail-fast - fail-safe - fail-stop ## Roots and Affixes - Root: failer - Root: faillir - Affix: -ure - act ## Etymology From Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir (“to fail”). Equivalent to fail + -ure. ## AI Etymology Failure comes from Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir (“to fail”). Equivalent to fail + -ure. In current use, the main senses are “A lack of success in doing something” and “Someone or something that does not succeed”. ## Topics - General Vocabulary markdown