unsuccessful

American  

[uhn-suhk-ses-fuhl] / ˌʌn səkˈsɛs fəl /

adjective

1. not achieving or not attended with success.

   an unsuccessful person;

   an unsuccessful venture.

   Synonyms:

   baffled, foiled, unfortunate, hapless

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unsuccessful British  

/ ˌʌnsəkˈsɛsfʊl /

adjective

1. not having succeeded

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Other Word Forms

• unsuccessfully adverb
• unsuccessfulness noun

Etymology

Origin of unsuccessful

First recorded in 1610–20; un- ¹ + successful

Example Sentences

If workers are patient, or unsuccessful, inflation may fall back to pre-war rates even without a rise in borrowing costs.

From The Wall Street Journal

In the 17th century, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz devised an unsuccessful scheme to turn Aristotle’s system of logic into arithmetic.

From The Wall Street Journal

We will present four successful and numerous unsuccessful formulations.

From Science Daily

I’m supposed to underline that this is road-tested technology, and it’s not going to be abused or prolong the action–teams are limited to two unsuccessful challenges per game.

From The Wall Street Journal

Last year, he launched an unsuccessful bid for governor, coming in third in a six-candidate race in the Democratic primary.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• abortive
• disastrous
• doomed
• failed
• foiled
• fruitless
• futile
• ill-fated
• ineffective
• ineffectual
• losing
• thwarted
• useless
• vain