English → Latin
“unsuccessful” in Latin
cāsusa fall, downwards movement; accident, chance; an event, happening, occurrenceinānisempty, void, hollow; vain; purposeless, meaningless, worthless, useless, fruitless, empty, idleirritusinvalid, void, null and void; ineffective, useless, irrelevantmalusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad; unpleasant to the senses, sight, smell, taste, touch; bad, evil, wicked, mparumvery little; insufficient, not enough, too littleprōcēdōto proceed, advance; to show oneself, appear, become visible; to go towards, go to meet
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
unsuccessful
Of persons [Vid: UNFORTUNATE]. To be unsuccessful in anything, aliquid alicui non satis ex sententia procedit, or male, parum, etc., procedit. Even the greatest orators are sometimes unsuccessful in their attempts, nonnumquam etiam summis oratoribus non satis ex sententia eventus dicendi procedit (Cic.).
Of things, cassus (empty, hollow; hence profitless, of labors): inanis (empty, unsubstantial; inanes contentiones): irritus (as good as undone, irritum inceptum, labor). (The words are found in this connection and order.) vanus et irritus; irritus et vanus. To make unsuccessful attempts, operam perdere, or frustra consumere or conterere; oleum et operam perdere. To be unsuccessful, successu carere (†): ad irritum cadere: male procedere.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for unsuccessful?
- The usual Latin words for “unsuccessful” are cāsus, inānis, irritus; also malus, parum, prōcēdō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.