Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Unsuccessful |
UnsuccessfulAdjective1. Not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome. 2. Failing to accomplish an intended result; "an abortive revolt"; "a stillborn plot to assassinate the President". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "unsuccessful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| UNCR | English | Unsuccessful Network Congestion calls ratio | Post & Telecom |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: UnsuccessfulSynonyms: abortive (adj), stillborn (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: successful (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Failure | Verb: fail; be unsuccessful; Adjective: not succeed; make vain efforts;Noun: do in vain, labor in vain, toil in vain; flunk; lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion; bring to naught, make nothing of; wash a blackamoor white; (impossible); roll the stones of Sisyphus; (useless); do by halves; (not complete); lose ground; (recede); fall short of. |
Adjective: unsuccessful, successless; failing, tripping;Verb: at fault; unfortunate. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | An Unsuccessful Raid (1898) Unsuccessful Somersault (1894) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A coral fragment reattached using experimental plastic ties. The use of plastic ties proved to be unsuccessful because the straps could not be tightened enough to secure the corals. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | A Japanese Navy "Judy" (Yokosuka D4Y3) bomber passes near USS Bataan (CVL-29) during an unsuccessful dive bombing run on Task Force 58, while the U.S. ships were operating off Japan on 20 March 1945. The Japanese plane was soon brought down by anti-aircraft fire. Photographed from USS Hancock (CV-19). Bataan is the ship in the center of the view. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Chart of Pearl Harbor recovered from a Japanese midget submarine captured after the attack. The chart shows various courses around Ford Island and gives ship locations which do not necessarily correspond to actual 7 December ship positions. Since it presumably came from the midget submarine HA-19, which was unsuccessful in its attempts to enter the harbor, these details probably represent expected ship locations and intended maneuvers by the submarine. Credit: NAVY. |  | Stranded at Frederikstad, St. Croix, Virgin Islands on 4 March 1868 after an unsuccessful launching attempt. She had been washed ashore by a tidal wave on 18 November 1867 and was finally refloated on 11 May 1868. Monongahela had received a bowsprit in her 1865 refit, but retains her original straight bow. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Kern County, California. Undernourished cotton picker's child listening to speeches of organizer at strike meeting to raise wages from seventy-five cents to ninety cents a hundred pounds. Strike unsuccessful. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Wind erosion is covering remains of unsuccessful farm in Idaho. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Wilbur in prone position in damaged machine on ground after unsuccessful trial of December 14, 1903; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Calvin Coolidge | Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | This fee shall, unless the Tribunal directs otherwise, be borne by the unsuccessful party. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | It was found to be unsuccessful. (references) | |
The overwhelming cause of unsuccessful peritoneal dialysis is peritonitis. (references) | ||
When a fistula is unsuccessful or not feasible, a synthetic graft is ordinarily placed. (references) | ||
Business | Notices are not sent routinely to unsuccessful bidders. (references) | |
Continued antigovernment sentiment indicated, however, that these government efforts were largely unsuccessful. (references) | ||
We attempted to contact some of the regional associations and manufacturers in the U.S. in 1998 as to their interest but were unsuccessful. (references) | ||
Children | Bulgaria | The Government largely has been unsuccessful in attracting and keeping many Romani children in school. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Singapore | After an unsuccessful appeal, Sintercom complied with the request. (references) |
South Africa | The allocation of the third cellular license to the company Cell.c was finalized after the unsuccessful bidders reached an agreement with Cell.c and subsequently withdrew their case; Cell.c was operational by year's end. (references) | |
Discrimination | Zambia | A legal challenge to these amendments in 1996 was unsuccessful. (references) |
Economic History | Sudan | In 1976, the Ansars mounted a bloody but unsuccessful coup attempt. (references) |
Chile | There have been several unsuccessful attempts to revamp the railroad system. (references) | |
Human Rights | Comoros | No persons were killed during the November 3-4 unsuccessful coup attempt in Anjouan. (references) |
Solomon Islands | In June there was an unsuccessful attempt to kill the Guadalcanal Provincial Premier, Ezekiel Alebua. (references) | |
Latvia | Further attempts to proceed with Lavent's case were unsuccessful due to his continuing claims of illness. (references) | |
Minorities | Mozambique | After several decades of unsuccessful attempts to gain a building permit, the Islamic community began constructing the Grand Mosque in downtown Maputo during the year. (references) |
Poland | The firing followed the unsuccessful prosecution of Ratajczak in December 1999 for violating the law on the preservation of national remembrance, a provision of which criminalizes public denials of Nazi and Communist-era crimes. (references) | |
Political Economy | Finland | Esko Aho, the party chair, made a strong, but unsuccessful, bid for the presidency in the 2000 presidential elections. (references) |
Political Rights | Central African Republic | However, only one of the unsuccessful candidates filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court. (references) |
India | In comparison, in Maharashtra and Gujarat, tribal people are a small minority and have been unsuccessful in blocking projects that they oppose. (references) | |
Comoros | Between November 2 and 3, Abeid made an unsuccessful attempt to regain control of Anjouan when he launched an attack against forces loyal to the new military commission. (references) | |
Trade | Hungary | Several government procurements have resulted in unsuccessful tenders, been challenged in court for technical violations, or prompted complaints that they were politicized. (references) |
Worker Rights | Korea | In the April 2000 National Assembly election, several candidates from the KCTU-affiliated Democratic Labor Party made unsuccessful bids for Assembly seats. (references) |
Fiji | However, the FTUC has been unsuccessful in obtaining collective bargaining agreements in EPZ's and claims that intimidation of workers by employers is widespread. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | OFFENSIVE, adj. Generating disagreeable emotions or sensations, as the advance of an army against its enemy. "Were the enemy's tactics offensive?" the king asked. "I should say so!" replied the unsuccessful general. "The blackguard wouldn't come out of his works!" |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | Those measures having proved unsuccessful, it became necessary to convince the refractory of the power of the United States to punish their depredations. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | On entering upon the duties of my station I found the United States an unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France for the satisfaction of claims the validity of which was never questionable, and has now been most solemnly admitted by France herself. |
Rutherford Hayes | 1877-1881 | Human judgment is never unerring, and is rarely regarded as otherwise than wrong by the unsuccessful party in the contest. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Unsuccessful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.69% of the time. "Unsuccessful" is used about 962 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.69% | 959 | 7,593 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.31% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 962 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "unsuccessful": be unsuccessful ♦ unsuccessful call ♦ unsuccessful call attempt ♦ unsuccessful outcome ♦ unsuccessful person ♦ unsuccessful reclosing ♦ unsuccessful use of radio channels. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
unsuccessful | 5 |
sales strategy unsuccessful | 3 |
added business unsuccessful value | 2 |
company crm example in unsuccessful using | 2 |
bt mesh radio trial unsuccessful | 2 |
crm example unsuccessful using | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "unsuccessful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i pasuksesshëm (abortive, ineffective, unfortunate), i pafat (hapless, ill fated, ill-omened, ill-starred, inauspicious, infelicitous, luckless, unblessed, unchancy, unfortunate, unlucky, untoward). (various references) | |
Arabic | فاشل (failing, fruitless, futile, good for nothing, unstuck, washed up), مخفق (diluted, fruitless, unstuck), غير ناجح (ineffective). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | неуспял (abortive, failed), неуспешен (abortive), безуспешен, пропаднал (failed, forlorn, gone, irreclaimable, rotting). (various references) | |
Chinese | 不成功 . (various references) | |
Czech | prohraný, odmítnutý (offcast), nepodařený, neúspìšný (failed, flop, ineffective, ineffectual, unfortunate, unlucky), marný (fruitless, futile, hopeless, useless, vain, wasteful), bezvýsledný (inconclusive, wasted). (various references) | |
Danish | udbud,som ikke har givet resultat (unsuccessful invitation to tender), tilbudsgiver,hvis tilbud forkastes (unsuccessful tenderer), tabende part (unsuccessful party), procenten af mislykkede opkald (unsuccessful call ratio), part,som helt eller delvis ikke har fået medhold (in its submissions, in whole or in part, party which has been unsuccessful), mislykket provokeret abort (unsuccessful abortion), mislykket opkaldsforsøg (unsuccessful call, unsuccessful call attempt), mislykket opkald (unsuccessful call), mislykket genindkobling (non-successful reclosing, unsuccessful reclosing), frit udbud,som ikke har givet resultat (unsuccessful invitation to tender), fremkommelighed (availability, unsuccessful calls ratio), fejlslagen brug af radiokanaler (unsuccessful use of radio channels), den tabende part (unsuccessful party). (various references) | |
Dutch | verhouding mislukte verbindingen (unsuccessful calls ratio), stelsel van schadeloosstelling voor geldige,doch niet gegunde offerten (system of compensation for unsuccessful valid tenders), partij die geheel of gedeeltelijk in het ongelijk is gesteld (in its submissions, in whole or in part, party which has been unsuccessful), niet-geslaagde wederinschakeling (unsuccessful reclosing), niet gekozen inschrijver (unsuccessful tenderer), mislukte oproep (unsuccessful call), mislukt gebruik van radiokanalen (unsuccessful use of radio channels), incomplete abortus (unsuccessful abortion), in het ongelijk gestelde partij (unsuccessful party), aantal oproepen zonder succes (unsuccessful call ratio), aanbesteding die zonder resultaat is gebleven (unsuccessful invitation to tender). (various references) | |
Finnish | tulokseton (of no avail, without result), epäonnistunut. (various references) | |
French | vain (unavailing), raté, manqué, infructueux (unfruitful). (various references) | |
German | erfolglos (failed, ineffective, luckless, unsuccessfully, without success). (various references) | |
Greek | ανεπιτυχήσ (abortive, infelicitous). (various references) | |
Hungarian | sikertelen (abortive, failed, still-born, unavailable, unavailing). (various references) | |
Indonesian | gagal (abortive, fail, misfire, vain). (various references) | |
Italian | vano (coquettish, doorway, empty, fruitless, futile, idle, ineffectual, nugatory, pointless, pretty, room, space, useless, vain), sfortunato (hapless, ill fated, luckless, unfortunate, unlucky), mancato (abortive, failed), infruttuoso (fruitless, poor, unfruitful, unprofitable, useless, vain), fallito (abortive, bankrupt, bankrupted, broke, failure, unpromising, unpromisingly). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 落選者 (unsuccessful candidate), 敗れる (to be broken, to be defeated, to be unsuccessful), 敗れる (to be defeated, to be unsuccessful), 旨く行かない (be unsuccessful, go badly), 不善感 (negative reaction, unsuccessful vaccination), 不合 者 (rejected person, unsuccessful candidate), 万年候補 (ever unsuccessful candidate, persistent candidate), まし取る (endlessly, I guess, indicate reason, infers some protest, loose, pouring liquid, prevaricating, seems, slovenly, sluggishly, to be lazy, to be slack, to be unsuccessful, to fail, to feel dull, to feel languid, to feel listless, to take something away by deception). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ま"ね""うほ (ever unsuccessful candidate, persistent candidate), うまくいかない (be unsuccessful, go badly), ふぜ"か" (negative reaction, unsuccessful vaccination), ふ"うかくしゃ (rejected person, unsuccessful candidate), らくせ"しゃ (unsuccessful candidate), やぶれる (to be defeated, to be unsuccessful, to get torn, to wear out), めになる (to be unsuccessful, to fail). (various references) | |
Korean | 실패하" (Failed). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uccessfulunsay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | sem êxito, mal sucedido (ill-fated), infrutífero (fruitless, unfruitful, ungrateful, vain), infeliz (devoted, disastrous, evil, hapless, ill-fated, ill-omened, ill-starred, inauspicious, infelicitous, jonah, luckless, sorrowful, unblessed, unfortunate, unhappy, unluckily, unlucky, wretch, wretched), baldado (unavailing, vain). (various references) | |
Romanian | nereuşit (abortive, bad), neizbutit, infructuos (bootless, ineffective, infertile, infructuous, unfruitful, useless). (various references) | |
Russian | безуспешный. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | neuspešan (bad job, fizzy, ineffectual, inefficacious, unfortunate). (various references) | |
Spanish | infructuoso (barren, fruitless, inutile, of no effect, unprofitable, useless), infeliz (infelicitous, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, wretch, wretched), ineficaz (ineffective, ineffectual, inefficient, nugatory, powerless), inútil (empty, good for nothing, helpless, naught, needless, no go, of no avail, of no use, pointless, profitless, purposeless, unavailing, unfit, unprofitable, unserviceable, unsuitable, useless, vain, waste, wasted), fracasado (abortive, failed, failure, loser, washed up). (various references) | |
Swedish | misslyckad (abortive), fruktlös (fruitless, unavailing, unfruitful). (various references) | |
Turkish | başarısız (abortive, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, unfortunate, unfruitful, unlucky), şanssız (distressed, down on one's luck, evil, fortuneless, hapless, ill fated, ill-starred, inauspicious, luckless, out of luck, star-crossed, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, untoward). (various references) | |
Turkmen | яetiюiksiz (inefficient), netijesiz (ineffective). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | невдачливий, безуспішний (abortive). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thất bại (clinker, grief), không thắng lợi, không th nh công, hỏng (addle, broken-down, depraved, vicious). (various references) | |
Welsh | anffynadwy, aflwyddiannus. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "unsuccessful": unsuccessfully. (additional references) | |
| |
"Unsuccessful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: unsuccessfull, unsucessful. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "unsuccessful" (pronounced u'nsukse"sful) |
| 9 | -s u k s e" s f u l | successful. |
| 5 | -e" s f u l | stressful. |
| 4 | -s f u l | blissful, disgraceful, forceful, graceful, houseful, suspenseful, peaceful, purposeful, remorseful, resourceful, useful. |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, artful, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, boastful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, deceitful, delightful, disdainful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doleful, doubtful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, eventful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fateful, fearful, fistful, fitful, flavorful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, gainful, gleeful, grateful, harmful, hateful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, hurtful, sorrowful, soulful, spiteful, stifle, tactful, tasteful, tearful, thankful, insightful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, lustful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mistrustful, mournful, muffle, needful, neglectful, painful, panful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, raffle, regretful, resentful, reshuffle, respectful, restful, riffle, rifle, rightful, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, thoughtful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, uneventful, unfaithful, ungrateful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, untruthful, vengeful, waffle, wasteful, watchful, willful, wishful, wistful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful, zestful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-e-f-l-n-s-s-s-u-u-u" | |
-2 letters: successful. | |
-3 letters: unsuccess. | |
-4 letters: cuscuses. | |
-5 letters: fucuses, fulness, lususes, nucleus, success, succuss, sunless. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-c-e-f-l-n-s-s-s-u-u-u" | |
+2 letters: unsuccessfully. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
