UNSUCCESSFUL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does unsuccessful mean? 

• UNSUCCESSFUL (adjective)
  The adjective UNSUCCESSFUL has 2 senses:

1. not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome

2. failing to accomplish an intended result

  Familiarity information: UNSUCCESSFUL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNSUCCESSFUL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not successful; having failed or having an unfavorable outcome

Similar:

empty-handed; unrewarded (having acquired or gained nothing)

winless (having no wins)

unplaced (not one of the first three in a race or competition)

unfulfilled; unrealised; unrealized (of persons; marked by failure to realize full potentialities)

self-defeating (acting to defeat its own purpose)

goalless; hitless; pointless; scoreless (having no points scores)

out (out of power; especially having been unsuccessful in an election)

no-win (certain to end in failure and disappointment)

hitless ((of a batter) without a hit)

down-and-out (lacking resources (or any prospect of resources))

done for; ruined; sunk; undone; washed-up (doomed to extinction)

defeated; disappointed; discomfited; foiled; frustrated; thwarted (disappointingly unsuccessful)

attempted (tried unsuccessfully)

Also:

unprofitable (producing little or no profit or gain)

unfortunate (not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune)

defeated (beaten or overcome; not victorious)

Attribute:

success (a state of prosperity or fame)

Antonym:

successful (having succeeded or being marked by a favorable outcome)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Failing to accomplish an intended result

Synonyms:

abortive; stillborn; unsuccessful

Context example:

a stillborn plot to assassinate the President

Similar:

unfruitful (not fruitful; not conducive to abundant production)

 Context examples 

The treatment was unsuccessful in 4 patients, and some complications, such as infections, occurred.

(Stem cell transplant reverses sickle cell disease in adults, NIH)

Terminology relevant to the reason the drug or therapy was unsuccessful in treating the condition.

(CDISC SDTM Treatment Failure Reason Terminology, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

He came back at night weary and unsuccessful.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Unsuccessful management of symptoms may prompt a return to nicotine use.

(Nicotine Withdrawal, NCI Thesaurus)

Efforts have been unsuccessful so far, mainly because the vast majority of transplanted cells die within a few days.

(New stem cell combination could help to repair damaged hearts, University of Cambridge)

As far back as the year 2000, it was predicted that helium would be one of the most readily-detectable gases on giant exoplanets, but until now, searches were unsuccessful.

(Hubble detects helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time, ESA/Hubble)

An unsuccessful lover might have killed Mr. and Mrs. Browner, and the male ear might have belonged to the husband.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I was quite unsuccessful.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favourite authors, the fulfilment of which I most eagerly sought; and if my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He was nowhere to be met with; every search for him was equally unsuccessful, in morning lounges or evening assemblies; neither at the Upper nor Lower Rooms, at dressed or undressed balls, was he perceivable; nor among the walkers, the horsemen, or the curricle-drivers of the morning.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)