unsuccessful

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Germanic *un-

Proto-West Germanic *un-

Old English un-

Middle English un-

English un-

English successful

English unsuccessful

From un- + successful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌnsəkˈsɛsfl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: un‧suc‧cess‧ful

Adjective

unsuccessful (comparative more unsuccessful, superlative most unsuccessful)

1. Failed, not successful.

   His unsuccessful attempt earned him sympathy, condolences, and an occasional good-natured ribbing.

   • 2004, Luiz Moutinho, Charles S. Chien, Problems in marketing:

     For example, an unsuccessful men's deodorant was successfully remerchandised by repackaging, heavier advertising, a higher price and new brand name 'Brut'.

Antonyms

• successful

Derived terms

• unsuccessfully
• unsuccessfulness

Translations

failed, not successful — see also successless

• Azerbaijani: uğursuz, müvəffəqiyyətsiz, səmərəsiz
• Bengali: অকৃতকার্য (bn) (okritokarjo), অসফল (bn) (ośophol)
• Bulgarian: неуспешен (bg) (neuspešen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不成功 (zh) (bùchénggōng)

• Czech: neúspěšný (cs), nezdařilý
• Esperanto: malsukcesa, sensukcesa
• Finnish: epäonnistunut (fi)
• French: infructueux (fr) m
• Georgian: წარუმატებელი (c̣arumaṭebeli)
• German: erfolglos (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ἄπρᾱκτος (áprāktos)

• Hindi: असफल (hi) (asphal)
• Hungarian: sikertelen (hu)
• Japanese: 不成功 (ja) (ふせいこう, fuseikō)
• Korean: 성공하지 못한 (seonggonghaji mothan)
• Manchu: laqu
• Māori: rahua, ngere
• Polish: nieudany (pl)
• Portuguese: malsucedido (pt) m
• Russian: безуспе́шный (ru) (bezuspéšnyj), неуда́чный (ru) (neudáčnyj), неуда́чливый (ru) (neudáčlivyj)
• Spanish: no exitoso
• Tagalog: bigo (tl)
• Turkish: başarısız (tr)
• Ukrainian: безуспі́шний (uk) (bezuspíšnyj), невда́лий (nevdályj), безрезульта́тний (uk) (bezrezulʹtátnyj)
• Vietnamese: bất thành, không thành công