adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   simple past and past participle of fail form-of, participle, past

Adjective

1. 1
   unsuccessful not-comparable
2. 2
   Decayed; worn out. not-comparable
3. 3
   Bankrupt. not-comparable

   "The government is unwilling to bail out the failed bank."

Synonyms

All synonyms

abortivebankruptbootlessbrokebrokenbusted

Antonyms

All antonyms

prosperoussuccessful

Example

More examples

"You worked hard, or you would have failed."

Related phrases

failed back syndromefailed statefailed supernova

Related Topic Clusters

Product and UX Writing Vocabulary

Interface and product-copy language for onboarding, errors, and feature guidance.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.