Synonyms of foundering

foundering 1 of 2

noun

as in sinking

Related Words

• sinking
• stranding
• grounding
• scuttling
• wrecking
• beaching
• shipwreck
• wreck
• shipwrecking
• wreckage

Dissimilar Words

• recovery
• salvage
• salvaging

foundering

2 of 2

verb

present participle of founder

1

as in collapsing

to be unsuccessful

the theater company foundered after its corporate funding dried up

Synonyms & Similar Words

• collapsing
• failing
• flopping
• struggling
• folding
• missing
• bombing
• cratering
• flunking
• striking out
• tanking
• floundering
• declining
• falling short
• flaming out
• falling flat
• laying an egg
• coming up empty
• crashing
• coming to grief
• washing out
• slumping
• crumbling
• dying on the vine
• slipping
• waning
• coming a cropper
• skidding
• falling on one's face
• sinking
• misfiring
• imploding
• miscarrying
• going under
• self-destructing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• succeeding
• going
• delivering
• working out
• clicking
• going over
• coming off
• thriving
• prospering
• flourishing
• cooking
• prevailing
• winning
• panning out
• triumphing

2

as in tumbling

to fall down or in as a result of physical pressure

the twin towers started to sway and suddenly foundered

Synonyms & Similar Words

• collapsing
• tumbling
• crumpling
• going
• crumbling
• buckling
• imploding
• dying
• yielding
• giving
• melting
• shattering
• going out
• giving way
• crashing
• failing
• caving (in)
• breaking
• bursting
• stalling
• flattening
• deflating
• splintering
• splitting
• smashing
• snapping
• cracking
• popping
• giving out
• melting down
• breaking down
• conking (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• rising
• swelling
• inflating

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of foundering

Noun

The process, known as lithospheric foundering, resembles a geological process on Earth in which portions of the planet's outermost layer sink into the mantle. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 23 Jan. 2026

Any major foundering in New Mexico could have long-lasting consequences. —Elliot Haspel, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2025

Verb

These artifacts, like the late 20th- and early 21st-century shipwrecks rusting in Caicos Banks, were monuments to the foundering dreams of successive generations, who tried and failed to make the land pay. —Henry Wismayer, Travel + Leisure, 7 Jan. 2026

Dinosaurs were flourishing, not foundering, as kings of the Cretaceous right up until the end, according to the new study. —Dino Grandoni The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 26 Oct. 2025

Beneath the opaque veneer that cult wineries like Bryant have striven to maintain, is that business model foundering in a changing wine market? —Senior Wine Critic, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 June 2019