Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of unsuccessful If those options are unsuccessful, Dallas could be players in the trade market. Justin Grasso, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 July 2025 The document added that attempts at resuscitating Baldock after he was found were unsuccessful. Gabrielle Rockson, People.com, 24 July 2025 At least two other affordable housing developers have tried to build on the site in the past but were unsuccessful, Liuzzo said. Theresa Clift july 23, Sacbee.com, 23 July 2025 The pilot attempted to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas to minimize civilian casualties and damage, but his efforts were unsuccessful and the jet crashed into a building. Reuters, USA Today, 22 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for unsuccessful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsuccessful
Adjective
  • Go with the flow, but not toward the beach: Trying to swim directly toward the beach when caught in a rip current is futile and exhausting.
    NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 6 July 2025
  • This group saw military responses as futile, as Iran was assumed to have escalation dominance.
    JAMES JEFFREY, Foreign Affairs, 4 July 2025
Adjective
  • Followers are useless, but engaged customers and a devoted tribe of community members are priceless.
    Solo Ceesay, Rolling Stone, 28 July 2025
  • Fertilizing before heavy rain is useless at best and harmful at worst.
    Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 28 July 2025
Adjective
  • On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution.
    David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 2025
  • Nove dissected key episodes in Soviet economic history, from the New Economic Policy of the 1920s and farm collectivization in the 1930s to the heavy industry drive and abortive economic reforms under Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and other Soviet leaders.
    Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022

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Cite this Entry

“Unsuccessful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsuccessful. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

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