successlessness†; abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen &c 158 [Lat.];
labor in vain &c (inutility) 645; no go; inefficacy†; inefficaciousness
&c adj.; vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive
efforts; flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion [Othello];
frustration; slip 'twixt cup and lip &c (disappointment) 509.
blunder &c (mistake) 495; fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip,
trip, stumble, claudication†, footfall; false step, wrong step; faux pas
[Fr.], titubation†, bévue [Fr.], faute [Fr.], lurch; botchery &c (want
of skill) 699 [Obs.]; scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown; flunk [U.S.].
mishap &c (misfortune) 735; split, collapse, smash, blow,
explosion.
repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture; beating,
drubbing; quietus, nonsuit†, subjugation; checkmate, stalemate, fool's
mate.
fall, downfall, ruin, perdition; wreck &c (destruction) 162;
deathblow; bankruptcy &c (nonpayment) 808.
losing game, affaire flambée.
victim; bankrupt; flunker†, flunky [U.S.].
V. fail; be unsuccessful &c adj.; not succeed &c 731; make vain efforts
&c n.; do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain; flunk [U.S.]; lose
one's labor, take nothing by one's motion; bring to naught, make
nothing of; wash a blackamoor white &c (impossible) 471; roll the
stones of Sisyphus &c (useless) 645; do by halves &c (not complete)
730; lose ground &c (recede) 282; fall short of &c 304.
miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss
stays; slip, trip, stumble; make a slip &c n.. blunder &c 495, make a
mess of, make a botch of; bitch it†, miscarry, abort, go up like a
rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot
down, reckon without one's host; get the wrong pig by the tail, get the
wrong sow by the ear &c (blunder), )mismanage) 699.
limp, halt, hobble, titubate†; fall, tumble; lose one's balance;
fall to the ground, fall between two stools; flounder, falter, stick in
the mud, run aground, split upon a rock; beat one's head against a
stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head
against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall; break one's
back; break down, sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under
one; get into trouble, get into a mess, get into a scrape; come to
grief &c (adversity) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs, go to pot;
lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated &c 731; have the worst of it,
lose the day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb &c
(submit) 725; not have a leg to stand on.
come to nothing, end in smoke; flat out†; fall to the ground, fall
through, fall dead, fall stillborn, fall flat; slip through one's
fingers; hang fire, miss fire; flash in the pan, collapse; topple down
&c (descent) 305; go to wrack and ruin &c (destruction) 162.
go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack; go
on ill, come off ill, turn out ill, work ill; take a wrong term, take
an ugly term; take an ugly turn, take a turn for the worse.
be all over with, be all up with; explode; dash one's hopes &c
(disappoint) 509; defeat the purpose; sow the wind and reap the
whirlwind, jump out of the frying pan into the fire, go from the frying
pan into the fire.
Adj. unsuccessful, successless†; failing, tripping &c v.; at fault;
unfortunate &c 735.
abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual,
ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient &c
(impotent) 158; insufficient &c 640; unavailing &c (useless) 645; of no
effect.
aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked,
foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited†; foiled; defeated &c 731;
struck down, borne down, broken down; downtrodden; overborne,
overwhelmed; all up with; ploughed, plowed, plucked.
lost, undone, ruined, broken; bankrupt &c (not paying) 808; played
out; done up, done for; dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe†,
knocked on the head; destroyed &c 162.
frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed; thrown off
one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends†;
unhorsed, in a sorry plight; hard hit.
stultified, befooled†, dished, hoist on one's own petard;
victimized, sacrificed.
wide of the mark &c (error) 495; out of one's reckoning &c
(inexpectation) 508 [Obs.]; left in the lurch; thrown away &c (wasted)
638; unattained; uncompleted &c 730.
Adv. unsuccessfully &c adj.; to little or no purpose, in vain, re
infecta [Lat.].
Phr. the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up [Cymbeline];
all is lost; the devil to pay; parturiunt montes &c (disappointment)
509 [Lat.]; dies infaustus [Lat.]; tout est perdu hors l'honneur [Fr.].