Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - failure

(failures) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Failure is a lack of success in doing or achieving something, especially in relation to a particular activity. This policy is doomed to failure... Three attempts on the British 200-metre record also ended in failure. ...feelings of failure. ? success N-UNCOUNT 2. If something is a failure, it is not a success. The marriage was a failure and they both wanted to be free of it... His six-year transition programme has by no means been a complete failure. ? success N-COUNT 3. If you say that someone is a failure, you mean that they have not succeeded in a particular activity, or that they are unsuccessful at everything they do. Elgar received many honors and much acclaim and yet he often considered himself a failure... ? success N-COUNT 4. Your failure to do a particular thing is the fact that you do not do it, even though you were expected to do it. ...their failure to get the product mix right. N-UNCOUNT: N to-inf, oft poss N 5. If there is a failure of something, for example a machine or part of the body, it goes wrong and stops working or developing properly. There were also several accidents mainly caused by engine failures on take-off... He was being treated for kidney failure... N-VAR: with supp, oft n N 6. If there is a failure of a business or bank, it is no longer able to continue operating. (BUSINESS) Business failures rose 16% last month. = collapse N-VAR: with supp