unsuccessful
- adjective
- /ˌʌnˈsəkˌsɛfəl/
- It's a story about a small-time studio and their two unsuccessful movies.
- an unsuccessful attempt
- an unsuccessful effort
- prove unsuccessful
He died in an unsuccessful campaign against the Persians.
- He died in an unsuccessful campaign against the Persians.
- But then we don't, we don't remove those who are unsuccessful.
- And very interestingly, none of that predicted who was, who was successful and who was unsuccessful in weight loss.
- Let me just see that speech for unsuccessful moon landing.
- So now Cain's work is unsuccessful, so he gets bitter and so.
- So now I'll probably look like a damn unsuccessful pedophile, you know?
- But they can, they're unsuccessful at anything.
- If they view it as a good thing, then it's a pretty unsuccessful act of retaliation.
- He did stuff like steal cars, write bad checks, became an unsuccessful pimp and drug dealer.
- Fuchsia represents one kind of revolt and she's unsuccessful and she dies.
Examples
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What this is, is learning the relationships between what you do and how successful or unsuccessful they are.
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He died in an unsuccessful campaign against the Persians.
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Nothing is more common than than unsuccessful people with talent.
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All attempts at contact have been unsuccessful.
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Unhappy people, and I believe unsuccessful people have a tendency to not do difficult things.
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After all, he believed it was Boyd's unsuccessful escape that had inspired his own attempt.
Fiction book (1998) -
All attempts to find the Mandarin have so far proved unsuccessful.
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And so far in my life, I've been unsuccessful and sticking to good healthy habits and certain things.
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However, medical therapy alone is often unsuccessful in alleviating symptoms; in such cases, surgery may be indicated.
Academic text (2008) -
All attempts at contact have been unsuccessful.
Synonyms
Without success despite trying to do something
Not working well enough to give the wanted result
Not likely to work or help
Not giving the results you want
Not giving useful or wanted results
It does not produce the result people want
An idea or plan that fails from the start
Not producing the result you want
Antonyms
Compounds
How Successful
Surface Forms
Morphology
unsuccessful = successful (transparent) = un + success + ful
A straightforward negation: 'un-' applied to the adjective 'successful' yields 'not successful'.
Etymology
Unsuccessful is made from the part un- meaning 'not' and successful, which comes from success meaning 'a good result'. So, unsuccessful means 'not having a good result' or 'failing to reach your goal'.