Failure, though often feared, is a universal experience that language captures with flair, wit, and sometimes brutal honesty.
Whether it’s a plan that backfires or a dream that crashes and burns, English idioms give us colorful ways to talk about falling short.
Let’s take a deep dive into these vivid expressions — some are humorous, some dramatic, and all of them offer unique ways to say, “It didn’t work out.”
Idioms for Failure
1. Go Down in Flames
Meaning: To fail spectacularly or dramatically.
In a Sentence: His attempt to open a vegan steakhouse in Texas went down in flames, attracting ridicule and zero customers.
2. Bite the Dust
Meaning: To be defeated or to fail.
In a Sentence: Every time she tried to beat the expert chess bot, her strategy bit the dust before reaching the third move.
3. Fall Flat
Meaning: To fail to create the intended effect.
In a Sentence: His jokes at the wedding were meant to lighten the mood, but they fell flat and left everyone blinking in awkward silence.
4. Miss the Mark
Meaning: To fail to reach the goal or standard.
In a Sentence: Her speech aimed to inspire, but it completely missed the mark and left the audience confused about the message.
5. Back to the Drawing Board
Meaning: To start over after a failure.
In a Sentence: When the prototype exploded during testing, the engineers had no choice but to go back to the drawing board.
6. Hit a Wall
Meaning: To suddenly stop making progress.
In a Sentence: He was flying through his thesis until he hit a wall with the literature review and couldn’t write another word.
7. Crash and Burn
Meaning: To fail completely and suddenly.
In a Sentence: Her solo debut was hyped for weeks, but it crashed and burned on opening night, leaving critics unimpressed.
8. Throw in the Towel
Meaning: To give up or admit defeat.
In a Sentence: After three failed startups, he finally threw in the towel and joined a corporate job.
9. Sink Like a Stone
Meaning: To fail quickly and completely.
In a Sentence: The new reality show sank like a stone after the first episode aired to record-low ratings.
10. Come to Nothing
Meaning: To fail after showing potential.
In a Sentence: All their careful planning and long nights came to nothing when the investor backed out at the last moment.
11. Shoot Oneself in the Foot
Meaning: To cause one’s own failure by mistake.
In a Sentence: He shot himself in the foot by criticizing his boss in an email — that he accidentally sent to his boss.
12. Drop the Ball
Meaning: To make a mistake that causes failure.
In a Sentence: The team dropped the ball by forgetting to submit the proposal before the deadline, missing out on the grant.
13. Come a Cropper
Meaning: To fail badly or fall.
In a Sentence: He came a cropper during his first live performance, forgetting the lyrics midway and freezing under the spotlight.
14. Blow It
Meaning: To fail by making a mistake.
In a Sentence: She had one chance to audition for her dream role, but she blew it by arriving an hour late.
15. Strike Out
Meaning: To fail repeatedly.
In a Sentence: He struck out on all three job interviews that week, each more disappointing than the last.
16. Be a Dead Duck
Meaning: To be doomed to fail or already failed.
In a Sentence: Without funding or support, the project was a dead duck before it even got off the ground.
17. Fall on One’s Face
Meaning: To fail embarrassingly.
In a Sentence: His attempt to show off his skating skills ended with him falling on his face in front of the whole park.
18. Be a Washout
Meaning: To be a complete failure.
In a Sentence: The outdoor concert was a total washout, thanks to the unexpected thunderstorm and muddy mess.
19. Lay an Egg
Meaning: To perform badly, especially in public.
In a Sentence: His stand-up routine laid an egg, earning not laughs but a few awkward coughs.
20. Be a Flop
Meaning: To fail to succeed.
In a Sentence: The much-anticipated film turned out to be a major flop, with empty theaters by the second day.
21. Strike a Sour Note
Meaning: To fail to impress or resonate.
In a Sentence: The speech was heartfelt, but the ending struck a sour note and left many in the audience underwhelmed.
22. Be All Thumbs
Meaning: To be clumsy and prone to errors.
In a Sentence: When it comes to assembling furniture, I’m all thumbs and usually end up with extra screws and missing pieces.
23. Hit the Skids
Meaning: To enter a period of failure or decline.
In a Sentence: After losing key clients, the company hit the skids and began laying off employees.
24. Go Belly Up
Meaning: To fail financially or collapse.
In a Sentence: The startup went belly up within six months due to poor planning and massive overhead.
25. Bark Up the Wrong Tree
Meaning: To pursue a failing or mistaken approach.
In a Sentence: If you think blaming your team will fix the issue, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
26. Be a Lemon
Meaning: To be defective or unsuccessful, often used for products.
In a Sentence: The used car turned out to be a lemon, breaking down just days after purchase.
27. Go Pear-Shaped
Meaning: To go wrong or fail unexpectedly.
In a Sentence: Everything was going fine until the presentation went pear-shaped when the slides stopped working.
28. Be a Lost Cause
Meaning: Something that’s beyond saving or helping.
In a Sentence: Trying to convince him to show up on time is a lost cause — he’s always late.
29. Not Make the Cut
Meaning: To fail to qualify.
In a Sentence: Despite all her efforts, she didn’t make the cut for the national debate team.
30. Be a Flash in the Pan
Meaning: To show early success that quickly fades.
In a Sentence: His viral video made him famous for a week, but it was just a flash in the pan.
31. Be Out of One’s Depth
Meaning: To be involved in something too difficult.
In a Sentence: She was out of her depth in the finance meeting and couldn’t follow the jargon at all.
32. Blow Up in One’s Face
Meaning: To fail and cause problems for the person responsible.
In a Sentence: The risky business deal blew up in his face, costing the company thousands.
33. Flunk Out
Meaning: To fail and be expelled from school.
In a Sentence: He flunked out of college after skipping too many classes and bombing his finals.
34. Go Off the Rails
Meaning: To fail by deviating from the plan.
In a Sentence: The project went off the rails when the new manager changed everything without consulting the team.
35. Be a Dead End
Meaning: A path that leads to failure or no progress.
In a Sentence: His investigation turned out to be a dead end, with no leads and more confusion.
36. Trip at the Finish Line
Meaning: To fail just before achieving success.
In a Sentence: After leading the race, she tripped at the finish line and lost the gold medal.
37. Bomb
Meaning: To fail completely, especially in entertainment.
In a Sentence: The comedian bombed so badly that people started leaving halfway through the show.
38. Lose One’s Touch
Meaning: To lose a previously good skill or talent.
In a Sentence: He used to be a master negotiator, but lately, it seems he’s lost his touch.
39. Be a Bust
Meaning: To be a disappointment or failure.
In a Sentence: The much-hyped reunion concert was a bust, with poor sound and empty seats.
40. Sink Without a Trace
Meaning: To fail and be quickly forgotten.
In a Sentence: Their app launched to zero fanfare and sank without a trace in a crowded market.
41. Run Aground
Meaning: To fail or get stuck, especially in progress.
In a Sentence: The plan ran aground when they couldn’t secure permits from the city council.
42. Meet with Resistance
Meaning: To face opposition that leads to failure.
In a Sentence: His policy reforms met with so much resistance that they were abandoned within weeks.
Conclusion
Failure may not be fun, but language gives us endless ways to describe it with charm, humor, and sometimes a hint of drama.
Whether your plan went down in flames or simply missed the mark, these idioms remind us that stumbling is a shared human experience — and often, the beginning of something better.