Synonyms and antonyms of Unsuccessful person or thing in British Thesaurus

lost cause (noun)

someone or something that will never succeed or improve

also-ran (noun)

someone who is not successful, especially someone who loses an election or competition

lame duck (noun)

someone who is not successful and needs a lot of help and support

failure (noun)

someone or something that has not achieved success

non-starter (noun)

a person or an idea that has no chance of succeeding

loser (noun)

informal someone who has never been successful and is never likely to be

a spent force ()

someone or something that does not have the influence that they had in the past

dead duck (noun)

informal something that will certainly fail

quitter (noun)

informal someone who is likely to stop trying if they have problems or are not successful immediately

second best (noun)

someone or something that is not what you wanted or is not as good as others

a house built on sand ()

an idea or plan that is not very sensible and is likely to fail

busted flush (noun)

Britishmainly journalism if a person or organization is a busted flush, they no longer have any power or influence

car crash (noun)

something that is completely unsuccessful

clunker (noun)

Americaninformal something that is completely unsuccessful

disaster (noun)

something that is annoying or a failure, but is not really very bad

fuck-up (noun)

offensive an extremely offensive word for someone who often makes serious mistakes or fails completely

lossmaker (noun)

British a business, organization, or industry that does not make a profit

pie in the sky ()

a plan, hope, idea, or suggestion that will never happen

second best (noun)

someone or something that comes directly after the best in order of achievement or quality

underachiever (noun)

someone who is not as successful as they could be at work, school etc