Synonyms and antonyms of Unsuccessful in British Thesaurus

failed (adjective)

unsuccessful

abortive (adjective)

not finished and therefore not successful

fruitless (adjective)

producing no good results, especially despite a lot of work

bungled (adjective)

done very badly and without success

botched (adjective)

badly done or badly planned, and therefore unsuccessful

unsuccessful (adjective)

something that is unsuccessful does not achieve what you want, or does not happen in the way that you want

in vain ()

without success

unproductive (adjective)

not achieving any benefits or positive results

counterproductive (adjective)

having the opposite result to the one you intended

ailing (adjective)

mainly journalism an ailing organization or economy is not strong or successful

barren (adjective)

a barren period is one in which you have no success

be firing/shooting blanks ()

to be unsuccessful in what you are trying to achieve

belly-up (adjective)

informal if a company goes belly-up, it loses all of its money

bottom (adjective)

at the lowest level or position, in status or success

the bottom drops out of/falls out of something ()

used for saying that something stops being successful or stops making money, often because people stop buying a product

close, but no cigar ()

used for telling someone that they have failed, although their attempt, guess etc was almost successful

could have been a contender ()

used for saying that somebody could have been successful at something, but was not

disastrous (adjective)

very unsuccessful

DOA (adjective)

mainly Americaninformal something that is DOA has not been successful, usually because it did not exist long enough to develop

finished (adjective)

informal if you are finished, you are no longer able to continue doing something, for example because you do not have any money or because people no longer trust you

frustrated (adjective)

wanting to be involved in a particular activity but not successful at it

have a long way to go ()

to need to do a lot more before you are successful

manqué (adjective)

literary used about someone who has tried to do a particular activity but is not successful

on a downer (informal)

informal experiencing a period of failure

on the/your way out ()

no longer successful, popular, or effective

sickly (adjective)

a sickly organization is not successful

slack (adjective)

not as busy or successful as usual in business

someone is slipping ()

if someone is slipping, they are becoming less good at doing something

stillborn (adjective)

something that is stillborn ends before it ever has the chance to begin

tinpot (adjective)

a tinpot leader, country etc is one that is not very important or successful

to little/no purpose ()

without success, or with bad results

to/of no avail ()

without getting the effect you wanted or intended

unavailing (adjective)

formal not successful

unfulfilled (adjective)

an unfulfilled wish has not been achieved

unmet (adjective)

used for saying that what is needed or wanted has not been done or provided

unrealised ()

a British spelling of unrealized

unrealized (adjective)

not done or achieved

unsuccessful (adjective)

someone who is unsuccessful does not do or get what they want

unsuccessful (adjective)

used about someone who has not achieved what they want in life

vain (adjective)

unsuccessful, or useless

washed-up (adjective)

informal someone who is washed-up will never be popular or successful again

whistling in the wind ()

trying without success to solve a problem or deal with something