epic fail

noun

plural epic fails

: a notable, obvious, and usually public failure

What was supposed to be a kind gesture turned into an epic fail, and now a viral video. … Morgan accidentally missed the step and faceplanted into the front door.

—97X.com

Kendall Jenner struggled to chop up a cucumber during Episode 5 of "The Kardashians," and her epic fail prompted Kris Jenner to request assistance from their chef.

—Leena Nasir

UBER's self-driving project was basically an epic fail …

—Jim Collins

… he [David Novak, former CEO of Yum Brands] talks about his epic fail: Crystal Pepsi, the clear version of Pepsi that he developed in 1992 when he was Pepsi's Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales.

—Annette Franz

Examples of epic fail in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But there would be no way to view this other than as an epic fail if the Avs cannot rally. — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 23 May 2026

Taylor famously had an epic fail trying to meet Jackson for the first time and see her perform live, back in 2017. — Janine Rubenstein, PEOPLE, 21 Apr. 2026

After an epic fail with the hiring of GM Ed Lynch and his own brief stint as president/GM, MacPhail turned to assistant GM Jim Hendry, who built three playoff teams in 2003, ’07 and ’08 but could never get over the hump. — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 12 Apr. 2026

The superfan experience was touted as an over-the-top, glittery homage to the iconic Mattel doll, but apparently was an epic fail. — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

2007, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for epic fail

• abigail
• cottontail
• countervail
• fingernail
• martingale
• mesoscale
• microscale
• monorail
• nanoscale
• ponytail
• swallowtail
• wensleydale