unsuccessful

Etymology

It is formed from English un- (“not”) + successful.^[2][3][4] successful is from success and -ful,^[2][3] and success is borrowed from Latin successus (“an advance, a good result”), from succēdō (“to come after, get on well”), from sub- and cēdō (“to go”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of actions and efforts, not meeting with success: 1617, in Moryson's Itinerary.^[2][5] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1610s.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed successful (1588) by about thirty years,^[2][3] and the noun unsuccess, lack of success, is a little older (before 1586, in Sidney).^[3][2] It was used of people from 1659.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not having the wished event; not fortunate", quoting Milton's "unsuccessful charge".^[7] The adverb unsuccessfully is from the mid 17th century, unsuccessfulness from the early 17th.^[4]

Timeline

• 1617 – of actions or efforts, not successful.^[2][5]
• 1659 – of persons.^[2]
• mid 17th century – unsuccessfully.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not achieving what was intended; failed: an unsuccessful attempt to climb the peak.
2. Of a person, not succeeding, as in a contest or a career: the unsuccessful candidates.

Word family

• unsuccessfully
• unsuccessfulness

Related words

• success
• successful
• unsuccess

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.