unsuccessful

adjective

un·​suc·​cess·​ful ˌən-sək-ˈses-fəl How to pronounce unsuccessful (audio)
: not successful : not meeting with or producing success
unsuccessfully adverb

Examples of unsuccessful in a Sentence

His last novel was unsuccessful. an unsuccessful attempt to fix the faucet ourselves
Recent Examples on the Web The assignment of boarding zones, meant to quell the crowd, has heretofore been unsuccessful due to a lack of enforcement on the part of the airlines. Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Oct. 2024 Over the following decades, efforts to resolve the criminal case and extradite him have been unsuccessful. Ellise Shafer, Variety, 23 Oct. 2024 Key Background Giuliani led Trump’s legal team in the wake of the 2020 election, helping bring ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits on the ex-president’s behalf and lobbying state lawmakers to reject their states’ results. Alison Durkee, Forbes, 22 Oct. 2024 An unsuccessful 2012 campaign to unseat former Justice John Pelander was the first of its kind. Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 18 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for unsuccessful 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unsuccessful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1617, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unsuccessful was in 1617

Dictionary Entries Near unsuccessful

Cite this Entry

“Unsuccessful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unsuccessful. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Kids Definition

unsuccessful

adjective
un·​suc·​cess·​ful ˌən(t)-sək-ˈses-fəl How to pronounce unsuccessful (audio)
: not successful : not having or producing success
unsuccessfully adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on unsuccessful

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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