Origin: Latin suffix -ure
Failure has 8 different meanings across 1 category:
an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose
"the surprise party was a complete failure"
lack of success
"he felt that his entire life had been a failure"
"that year there was a crop failure"
a person with a record of failing; someone who loses consistently
"The coach decided to bench him immediately, noting that his latest slump was just another entry in his long history as a failure."
an unexpected omission
"he resented my failure to return his call"
"the mechanic's failure to check the brakes"
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"
State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
"After months of planning and funding, the new startup was officially declared a failure when it ran out of cash before launching its first product."
In plain English: Failure is when you do not succeed at something you were trying to achieve.
"The failure of the engine left them stranded on the highway."
Usage: Use failure to describe any situation where an expected goal is not achieved, such as a broken plan or a missed deadline. It functions as a neutral term for the state of not succeeding rather than implying personal blame.
The word failure comes from the Old French verb faillir, which meant "to fail." It entered English through Anglo-Norman and was formed by adding the suffix -ure to the root of the modern verb.