failure

• WordNet 3.6
  • n failure an unexpected omission "he resented my failure to return his call","the mechanic's failure to check the brakes"
  • n failure an act that fails "his failure to pass the test"
  • n failure an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose "the surprise party was a complete failure"
  • n failure a person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently
  • n failure loss of ability to function normally "kidney failure"
  • n failure lack of success "he felt that his entire life had been a failure","that year there was a crop failure"
  • n failure 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"
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• Interesting fact: In Florida failure to tell your neighbor his house is on fire is illegal.
• • Failure A becoming insolvent; bankruptcy; suspension of payment; as, failure in business.
  • Failure A failing; a slight fault.
  • Failure Cessation of supply, or total defect; a failing; deficiency; as, failure of rain; failure of crops.
  • Failure Decay, or defect from decay; deterioration; as, the failure of memory or of sight.
  • Failure Omission; nonperformance; as, the failure to keep a promise.
  • Failure Want of success; the state of having failed.
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• • n failure A failing; deficiency; default; cessation of supply or total defect: as, the failure of springs or streams; failure of crops.
  • n failure Omission; non-performance: as, the failure of a promise or an engagement.
  • n failure Decay, or defect from decay: as, the failure of memory or of sight.
  • n failure The act of failing, or the state of having failed to accomplish a purpose or attain an object; want of success: as, the failures of life.
  • n failure The condition of becoming bankrupt by reason of insolvency; confession of insolvency; a becoming insolvent or bankrupt: as, the failure of a merchant or a bank.
  • n failure Neglect.
  • n failure Miscarriage.
  • n failure Failure, Insolvency, Bankruptcy, Suspension. “Insolvency is a state; failure, an act flowing out of that state; and bankruptcy, an effect of that act” (Crabb). A bank may be insolvent—that is, unable to pay all its debts—without there being a public knowledge of the fact; it is a just law that makes it a criminal offense for a bank officer to receive deposits when he knows his bank to be insolvent. Failure is the popular and common name indicating the cessation of business on account of insolvency, especially if produced by the actual lack of money to meet some demand. Bankruptcy is often in popular use the same as insolvency, but it is more often used of the legal state of those who have surrendered their property to their creditors on account of their insolvency, or of the proceedings in connection therewith: as, he is going through bankruptcy. Suspension, or stoppage of payment, is in the nature of temporary failure, depending upon temporary disabilities not necessarily involving insolvency. Upon converting assets into money or getting an extension of credit, one who has suspended may be able to resume business. Insolvency and bankruptcy, in the legal sense, continue, in respect to past obligations, until the insolvent or bankrupt is formally discharged by the courts.
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• • n Failure a falling short, or cessation: omission: decay: bankruptcy
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• Malcolm S. Forbes

  

  “Failure is success if we learn from it.”
• Oscar Wilde

  

  “Ambition is the last refuge of failure.”
• Elmer G. Letterman

  

  “A man may fall many times but he won't be a failure until he says someone pushed him.”
• H. G. Hasler

  

  “You cannot have the success without the failures.”
• Cindy Adams

  

  “Success has made failures of many men.”
• Sir Max Beerbohm

  

  “There is much to be said for failure. It is more interesting than success.”

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