[syn: bankruptcy, failure]
7. loss of ability to function normally;
- Example: "kidney failure"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fail \Fail\, n. [OF. faille, from failir. See Fail, v. i.]
1. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly
superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase
without fail. "His highness' fail of issue." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Death; decease. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Failure \Fail"ure\, n. [From Fail.]
1. Cessation of supply, or total defect; a failing;
deficiency; as, failure of rain; failure of crops.
[1913 Webster]
2. Omission; nonperformance; as, the failure to keep a
promise.
[1913 Webster]
3. Want of success; the state of having failed.
[1913 Webster]
4. Decay, or defect from decay; deterioration; as, the
failure of memory or of sight.
[1913 Webster]
5. A becoming insolvent; bankruptcy; suspension of payment;
as, failure in business.
[1913 Webster]
6. A failing; a slight fault. [Obs.] --Johnson.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
failure
n 1: an act that fails; "his failure to pass the test"
2: an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose; "the
surprise party was a complete failure" [ant: success]
3: lack of success; "he felt that his entire life had been a
failure"; "that year there was a crop failure" [ant:
success]
4: a person with a record of failing; someone who loses
consistently [syn: failure, loser, nonstarter,
unsuccessful person] [ant: achiever, succeeder,
success, winner]
5: an unexpected omission; "he resented my failure to return his
call"; "the mechanic's failure to check the brakes"
6: inability to discharge all your debts as they come due; "the
company had to declare bankruptcy"; "fraudulent loans led to
the failure of many banks" [syn: bankruptcy, failure]
7: loss of ability to function normally; "kidney failure"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
434 Moby Thesaurus words for "failure":
Grand Guignol, Passion play, Sisyphean labor, Tom show, Waterloo,
also-ran, antimasque, arrear, arrearage, arrears, atrocity,
audience success, bad habit, bafflement, balk, ballet, bankrupt,
bankruptcy, baseness, beating, besetting sin, betrayed hope,
blasted expectation, blemish, blighted hope, blow, bomb,
bootlessness, botch, bouncing check, breach, breakdown,
broadcast drama, buffet, bug, burlesque show, bust, catch, charade,
clerical error, cliff hanger, closet drama, collapse, comedown,
comedy drama, conquering, conquest, corrigendum,
counterproductiveness, counterproductivity, crack, crash, crime,
crime against humanity, critical success, cruel disappointment,
culpa, culpable negligence, dash, dashed hope, daytime serial,
dead duck, deadly sin, dearth, deathblow, debacle, debasement,
debilitation, decadence, decadency, decay, declension, declination,
decline, defalcation, default, defeat, defect, defection,
defectiveness, deficiency, deficit, deformation, degeneracy,
degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, delinquency, demotion,
depravation, depravedness, depreciation, dereliction, derogation,
descent, destruction, deterioration, devolution, dialogue,
disappointment, discomfiture, disconformity, discontinuance,
disillusionment, disregard, dissatisfaction, documentary drama,
downfall, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend,
drama, dramalogue, dramatic play, dramatic series, drawback, drop,
drubbing, dud, duodrama, duologue, dying, ebb, ebbing, effeteness,
endless task, enfeeblement, enormity, epic theater, erratum, error,
evil, exhaustion, experimental theater, extravaganza, fading,
failing, failure of nerve, fall, fallen countenance, falling short,
falling-off, false alarm, fatuity, fault, faute, felony, fewness,
fiasco, fizzle, flagging, flaw, flop, foible, foiling, folding,
forlorn hope, frailty, frustration, futility, gasser, genocide,
giveaway, guilty act, happening, hash, heavy sin, hiding, hit,
hit show, hole, hope deferred, human error, imperfection,
impropriety, improvisational drama, inadequacy, inadvertence,
inadvertency, inanity, inattention, incompetence, incompetent,
indifference, indiscretion, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality,
ineffectualness, inefficaciousness, inefficacy, inexecution,
inexpiable sin, inferiority, infirmity, iniquity, injury,
injustice, inobservance, insolvency, insolvent, insolvent debtor,
insufficiency, insufficient funds, invalidity, involution, kink,
kited check, laches, lack, laissez-faire, lambasting, lame duck,
lapse, lathering, laxity, laxness, legitimate drama, lemon,
letdown, licking, little problem, littleness, loose ends,
looseness, loser, loss, loss of tone, maladroitness, malefaction,
malfeasance, malum, masque, mastery, meagerness, meanness,
mediocrity, melodrama, minor wrong, minstrel show, miracle,
miracle play, mirage, misapprehension, miscalculation, miscarriage,
misconception, miscount, misdeal, misdeed, misdemeanor,
misfeasance, misidentification, misjudgment, misplay, misprint,
misquotation, misreport, miss, misstatement, mistake,
misunderstanding, misuse, monodrama, monologue, moral flaw,
morality, morality play, mortal sin, muddle, music drama,
musical revue, mystery, mystery play, neglect, neglectfulness,
negligence, no go, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, nonadherence,
noncompliance, nonconformance, nonconformity, nonconsummation,
nondischarging, nonentity, nonexecution, nonfeasance,
nonfulfillment, noninterference, nonobservance, nonperformance,
nonrestriction, nonsuccess, offense, omission, opera, outrage,
overcoming, overdraft, overdrawn account, overlooking, oversight,
overthrow, overturn, pageant, panel show, pantomime, pastoral,
pastoral drama, paucity, peccadillo, peccancy, permissiveness,
pettiness, piece, play, playlet, poor stewardship, poorness,
problem, problem play, procrastination, psychodrama, quietus,
quiz show, radio drama, receivership, regression, remissness,
retrocession, retrogradation, retrogression, review, revue, rift,
rough edges, ruin, scantiness, sensational play, serial, setback,
shabbiness, short measure, shortage, shortcoming, shortfall, show,
sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, sitcom,
situation comedy, sketch, skimpiness, skit, slackness, slight,
slip, slippage, slump, smallness, smash, snag, soap, soap opera,
sociodrama, something missing, sore disappointment, spectacle,
stage play, stage show, straight drama, subdual, subduing,
subjugation, subnormality, success, suspense drama, tableau,
tableau vivant, taint, talk show, tantalization, tease, teleplay,
television drama, television play, theater of cruelty, thrashing,
tort, total theater, transgression, trespass, trimming, trip,
triviality, trouncing, typo, typographical error, unconcern,
underage, undoing, unfulfillment, unobservance, unrigorousness,
unskillfulness, unsuccess, unsuccessfulness, unutterable sin,
uselessness, vanquishment, variety show, vaudeville,
vaudeville show, vehicle, venial sin, vice, vulgarity,
vulnerable place, wane, waning, washout, weak link, weak point,
weak side, weakness, whipping, word-of-mouth success, work,
work of Penelope, wrong
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
failure
The inability of a system or system component to perform a
required function within specified limits. A failure may be
produced when a fault is encountered.
(1996-05-13)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FAILURE. A total defect; an omission; a non-performance. Failure also
signifies a stoppage of payment; as, there has been a failure today, some
one has stopped payment.
2. According to the French code of commerce, art. 437, every merchant
or trader who suspends payment is in a state of failure. Vide Bankruptcy;
Insolvency.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FAILURE, OF ISSUE. When there is a want of issue to take an estate limited
over by an executory devise.
2. Failure of issue is definite or indefinite. When the precise time
for the failure of issue is fixed by the will, as is the case of a devise to
Peter, but if he dies without issue living at the time of his death, then to
another, this is a failure of issue definite. An indefinite failure of issue
is the very converse or opposite of this, and it signifies a general failure
of issue, whenever it may happen, without fixing any time, or a certain or
definite period, within which it must happen. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1849.