What does unsuccess mean?
Unsuccess is a formal noun for the condition of not achieving a desired result. It is usually treated as an uncountable mass noun and describes an outcome or overall lack of achievement rather than one specific failed attempt. For instance, a project may be described as an “unsuccess” when its goals are not met, although “failure” or “lack of success” is more usual in everyday speech. The word often has a detached, evaluative tone: it can suggest not merely that an effort fell short but that it produced no useful result. Because it is relatively uncommon, writers usually prefer “unsuccessful” for things that did not succeed and “unsuccessfully” for actions performed without success. Even so, unsuccess can be rhetorically useful because it foregrounds the absence of a desired outcome and echoes the familiar word “success” in a compact, formal form.
nounThe state or condition of not achieving a desired outcome; failure to succeed.
- The absence or failure of success in an undertaking or outcome.
"The project ended in unsuccess despite years of funding and experimentation."
"The project ended in unsuccess despite years of funding and experimentation."
"Years of unsuccess in the laboratory did not persuade the chemist to abandon the theory."
The plural is rare and is used mainly for separate unsuccessful outcomes; the noun is ordinarily uncountable.
"Each of the early unsuccesses led to a revision of the method."
A single “un-” turns success into its opposite while preserving its Latin past-participle ancestry.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unsuccess come from?
English unsuccess was formed by combining the prefix un-, meaning “not,” with success. Success came into English through Middle French from Latin successus, a noun meaning “success” or “advance” and the past participle of succedere, “to follow, succeed.” The Latin verb was built from suc- and cedere, “to go, yield”; the prefix un- reverses the affirmative sense of success to produce “not success” or “failure.”
Related word forms
How unsuccess is actually used
Formal and relatively uncommon; ordinary usage usually prefers “failure” or “lack of success.” It is generally uncountable, although the plural “unsuccesses” is available for separate unsuccessful outcomes.
Easily confused with unsuccess
Unsuccess is a noun naming a condition or outcome, whereas unsuccessful is an adjective describing a person or thing that did not succeed.