word-vault

{ "term": "failure", "partOfSpeech": "noun", "ox3000": true, "cefr": "b2", "definitions": [ { "senseNumber": 1, "definition": "lack of success in doing or achieving something", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "The success or failure of the plan depends on you." }, { "text": "She is still coming to terms with the failure of her marriage." }, { "text": "The attempt was **doomed to failure**." }, { "text": "All my efforts **ended in failure**." }, { "text": "the problems of economic failure and increasing unemployment" }, { "text": "Their bid to win the contract resulted in **abject failure**." }, { "text": "The decision to withdraw funding represents a failure of imagination." }, { "text": "the intelligence failures that preceded the terrorist attacks" }, { "text": "All her efforts were doomed to failure." }, { "text": "Children who are doing badly tend to expect failure and criticism." }, { "text": "Fear of failure should not deter you from trying." }, { "text": "He attributes the failure of the project to lack of government support." }, { "text": "He was too proud to admit failure." }, { "text": "She wanted someone to blame for the failure of their relationship." }, { "text": "I will not tolerate failure." }, { "text": "Initial failure was followed by unexpected, if modest, success." }, { "text": "John had a long history of academic failure." }, { "text": "There is a high failure rate with this treatment." }, { "text": "War is the ultimate failure of public communication." } ], "topics": ["Difficulty and failure"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["complete", "total", "abject"], "verb + failure": ["be doomed to", "end in", "result in"], "failure + noun": ["rate"], "phrases": [ "fear of failure", "a history of failure", "a possibility of failure" ] } }, { "senseNumber": 2, "definition": "a person or thing that is not successful", "sensetop": "failure as something", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "The whole thing was a **complete failure**." }, { "text": "A team learns from experience, both successes and failures." }, { "text": "He was a failure as a teacher.", "contextForm": "failure as something" }, { "text": "Her ideas were large: if she could not succeed, she would at least be a heroic failure." }, { "text": "I felt (like) a complete failure." }, { "text": "The film was one of the rare failures in his career." }, { "text": "The venture proved a costly failure." }, { "text": "This breach constitutes a serious failure in performance." }, { "text": "failures arising from circumstances beyond your control" }, { "text": "to learn from past failures" }, { "text": "The project was considered a failure in both technical and economic terms." }, { "text": "The rebellion was a dismal failure." } ], "topics": ["Difficulty and failure"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["big", "great", "serious"], "verb + failure": ["be", "represent", "prove"], "failure + verb": ["arise from something"], "preposition": ["failure of"] } }, { "senseNumber": 3, "definition": "an act of not doing something, especially something that you are expected to do", "sensetop": "failure to do somethingfailure of somebody/something to do somethingfailure by somebody/something to do something", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "**Failure to comply with** the regulations will result in prosecution.", "contextForm": "failure to do something" }, { "text": "the city's **failure to provide** an efficient public transport system" }, { "text": "the government's failure to carry out reforms in the energy sector" }, { "text": "His confession followed repeated failures to appear in court." }, { "text": "the failure of the United Nations to maintain food supplies", "contextForm": "failure of somebody/something to do something" }, { "text": "a report on the failure by the police to protect her", "contextForm": "failure by somebody/something to do something" }, { "text": "Nothing can excuse your failure to ask my permission." }, { "text": "He lamented his failure to formulate a satisfactory theory." }, { "text": "government failure to listen to the voice of the electorate" } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["fundamental", "general", "manifest"], "verb + failure": ["excuse", "justify", "constitute"] } }, { "senseNumber": 4, "definition": "the state of not working correctly or as expected; an occasion when this happens", "cefr": "b2", "ox3000": true, "examples": [ { "text": "patients suffering from **heart/kidney/liver failure**" }, { "text": "renal/respiratory failure" }, { "text": "Production has been hampered by mechanical failure." }, { "text": "A **power failure** plunged everything into darkness." }, { "text": "The cause of the crash was given as engine failure." }, { "text": "Poor maintenance caused the failure of two electricity generators." }, { "text": "patients with chronic renal failure" }, { "text": "the commonest cause of acute liver failure" }, { "text": "The aircraft seems to have experienced an engine failure." }, { "text": "a failure in the computer system" }, { "text": "a rare viral infection that can lead to heart failure" } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["mechanical", "structural", "technical"], "verb + failure": ["cause", "lead to", "result in"], "failure + verb": ["occur"], "preposition": ["failure in"] } }, { "senseNumber": 5, "definition": "a situation in which a business has to close because it is not successful", "cefr": "b2", "examples": [ { "text": "There has been an alarming increase in business failures." }, { "text": "Are we going to see more closures or failures in the ISP business?" }, { "text": "Business failures rose by 30% in 2023." } ], "topics": ["Business"], "collocations": { "adjective": ["mechanical", "structural", "technical"], "verb + failure": ["cause", "lead to", "result in"], "failure + verb": ["occur"], "preposition": ["failure in"] } }, { "senseNumber": 6, "definition": "a situation in which crops do not grow correctly and do not produce food", "sensetop": "crop/harvest failure", "examples": [ { "text": "Bad weather has resulted in crop failure." } ], "collocations": { "adjective": ["mechanical", "structural", "technical"], "verb + failure": ["cause", "lead to", "result in"], "failure + verb": ["occur"], "preposition": ["failure in"] } } ], "pronunciations": { "uk": [ { "pronunciation": "/ˈfeɪljə(r)/", "audio": "fa/failure/failure__gb_2.mp3" } ], "us": [ { "pronunciation": "/ˈfeɪljər/", "audio": "fa/failure/failure__us_2.mp3" } ] }, "wordOrigin": "mid 17th cent. (originally as failer, in the senses ‘non-occurrence’ and ‘stopping of supply’): from Anglo-Norman French failer for Old French faillir, based on Latin fallere ‘deceive’." }