Failure

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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        superseded by {failure} or {failing}, except in the phrase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]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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: {loser}, {nonstarter}, {unsuccessful
          person}] [ant: {achiever}]
       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}]
       7: loss of ability to function normally; "kidney failure"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  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)
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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.