ROGET'S THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES ...

her victories no less renowned than war [Milton]; the race by vigor not by vaunts is won
[Pope]; vincit qui patitur [Lat.]; vincit qui se vincit [Lat.]; The race is not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet [Mark Twain].
732. Failure -- N. failure; nonsuccess † , nonfulfillment; dead failure, successlessness † ;
abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen &c 158 [Lat.]; labor in vain &c (inutility) 645; no
go; inefficacy † ; inefficaciousness &c adj.; vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive
attempt, abortive efforts; flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion [Othello];
frustration; slip 'twixt cup and lip &c (disappointment) 509.
blunder &c (mistake) 495; fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble,
claudication † , footfall; false step, wrong step; faux pas [Fr.], titubation † , b_evue [Fr.],
faute [Fr.], lurch; botchery &c (want of skill) 699 [Obs.]; scrape, mess, fiasco,
breakdown; flunk [U.S.].
mishap &c (misfortune) 735; split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion.
repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture; beating, drubbing; quietus,
nonsuit † , subjugation; checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate.
fall, downfall, ruin, perdition; wreck &c (destruction) 162; deathblow; bankruptcy &c
(nonpayment) 808.
losing game, affaire flamb_ee.
victim; bankrupt; flunker † , flunky [U.S.].
V. fail; be unsuccessful &c adj.; not succeed &c 731; make vain efforts &c n.; do in vain,
labor in vain, toil in vain; flunk [U.S.]; lose one's labor, take nothing by one's motion;
bring to naught, make nothing of; wash a blackamoor white &c (impossible) 471; roll the
stones of Sisyphus &c (useless) 645; do by halves &c (not complete) 730; lose ground &c
(recede) 282; fall short of &c 304.
miss, miss one's aim, miss the mark, miss one's footing, miss stays; slip, trip, stumble;
make a slip &c n.. blunder &c 495, make a mess of, make a botch of; bitch it † , miscarry,
abort, go up like a rocket and come down like the stick, come down in flames, get shot
down, reckon without one's host; get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the
ear &c (blunder), )mismanage) 699.
limp, halt, hobble, titubate † ; fall, tumble; lose one's balance; fall to the ground, fall
between two stools; flounder, falter, stick in the mud, run aground, split upon a rock; beat
one's head against a stone wall, run one's head against a stone wall, knock one's head
against a stone wall, dash one's head against a stone wall; break one's back; break down,
sink, drown, founder, have the ground cut from under one; get into trouble, get into a
mess, get into a scrape; come to grief &c (adversity) 735; go to the wall, go to the dogs,
go to pot; lick the dust, bite the dust; be defeated &c 731; have the worst of it, lose the
day, come off second best, lose; fall a prey to; succumb &c (submit) 725; not have a leg
to stand on.
come to nothing, end in smoke; flat out † ; fall to the ground, fall through, fall dead, fall
stillborn, fall flat; slip through one's fingers; hang fire, miss fire; flash in the pan,
collapse; topple down &c (descent) 305; go to wrack and ruin &c (destruction) 162.
go amiss, go wrong, go cross, go hard with, go on a wrong tack; go on ill, come off ill,
turn out ill, work ill; take a wrong term, take an ugly term; take an ugly turn, take a turn
for the worse.