Failure happens to everyone, even people who later become very successful. In the United States, kids learn early that trying your best is what matters, even if things don’t always go right. That’s why many idioms in American English talk about failing or trying and not getting the result you want. These phrases help describe tough times in life when plans fall apart. They also show how people can laugh at their mistakes or learn from them.
This article will explain 50 idioms about failure in simple words. You’ll see idioms about failure to succeed, idioms for failed attempts, and ones that compare both failure and success. Some are even funny. These idioms are used often in the USA—in schools, sports, work, and daily life. By learning them, you’ll better understand how Americans talk about hard times, bounce back, and keep going. Let’s start exploring these sayings and what they mean.
Idioms About Failure
1. Fall flat
Meaning: To fail completely
Example Sentence:
– The joke fell flat, and nobody laughed.
– His idea fell flat during the meeting.
Other ways to say: Flop, go wrong
Fun Fact/Origin: This comes from theater, where a joke or act that “falls flat” means the audience doesn’t react.
Usage: Used when something doesn’t go as planned.
2. Miss the boat
Meaning: To miss a chance or opportunity
Example Sentence:
– He missed the boat on buying those cheap tickets.
– I forgot to sign up—missed the boat again.
Other ways to say: Be too late, lose a chance
Fun Fact/Origin: It comes from people literally missing a ship’s departure.
Usage: Used when someone acts too late.
3. Go down in flames
Meaning: To fail very badly
Example Sentence:
– Her science project went down in flames.
– The team’s plan went down in flames during the game.
Other ways to say: Crash and burn, fail big time
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from planes crashing in war.
Usage: Used when something fails in a big or dramatic way.
4. Drop the ball
Meaning: To make a mistake or fail to do something important
Example Sentence:
– He really dropped the ball on the group project.
– She dropped the ball and forgot the homework.
Other ways to say: Mess up, forget
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from sports like football or baseball.
Usage: Used when someone forgets or doesn’t finish a task.
5. Hit a wall
Meaning: To stop making progress
Example Sentence:
– I hit a wall while writing my essay.
– The team hit a wall during practice and couldn’t improve.
Other ways to say: Get stuck, stop moving forward
Fun Fact/Origin: Used in running, when the body runs out of energy.
Usage: Used when someone is stuck and can’t go further.
6. Bite the dust
Meaning: To fail or be defeated
Example Sentence:
– Another plan bit the dust.
– The robot bit the dust during the test.
Other ways to say: Get ruined, lose
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from cowboys and Western stories.
Usage: Often used in a funny way.
7. Go belly up
Meaning: To completely fail or go out of business
Example Sentence:
– The lemonade stand went belly up.
– His idea for a YouTube channel went belly up.
Other ways to say: Go broke, collapse
Fun Fact/Origin: From dead fish floating belly-up.
Usage: Used for projects, businesses, or plans.
8. Backfire
Meaning: To have the opposite result of what was wanted
Example Sentence:
– His plan to help actually backfired.
– The surprise party backfired when she got scared.
Other ways to say: Turn out wrong, go badly
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from old cars making noise when they misfire.
Usage: Used when a plan makes things worse.
9. Fizzle out
Meaning: To lose energy or fail slowly
Example Sentence:
– Their interest in the project fizzled out.
– The game night fizzled out when people left early.
Other ways to say: Fade away, lose steam
Fun Fact/Origin: “Fizz” means to make a quiet sound while fading.
Usage: Used when excitement or success slowly disappears.
10. Crash and burn
Meaning: To fail quickly and completely
Example Sentence:
– His speech crashed and burned.
– The science project crashed and burned in the first hour.
Other ways to say: Fail badly, blow up
Fun Fact/Origin: From flying or racing accidents.
Usage: Used when something ends suddenly and badly.
11. Throw in the towel
Meaning: To give up
Example Sentence:
– After many tries, he threw in the towel.
– She threw in the towel on her baking project.
Other ways to say: Quit, give up
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from boxing, when a coach tosses in a towel to stop the fight.
Usage: Used when someone stops trying after failing.
12. Come to nothing
Meaning: To fail to produce any result
Example Sentence:
– All their plans came to nothing.
– The research came to nothing after the funding stopped.
Other ways to say: Fail, end with no result
Fun Fact/Origin: Used in literature for failed efforts.
Usage: Used when efforts lead to no outcome.
13. Fall through
Meaning: A plan fails to happen
Example Sentence:
– Our weekend plans fell through.
– The school trip fell through because of rain.
Other ways to say: Get canceled, fail
Fun Fact/Origin: Imagine something slipping through your fingers.
Usage: Used when something doesn’t happen as expected.
14. Dead in the water
Meaning: Stopped or failed completely
Example Sentence:
– The idea was dead in the water after the first test.
– The project was dead in the water before it started.
Other ways to say: Stuck, going nowhere
Fun Fact/Origin: From boats that can’t move.
Usage: Used when a plan or idea cannot move forward.
15. Go up in smoke
Meaning: To be destroyed or lost
Example Sentence:
– His dream of being a chef went up in smoke.
– All their work went up in smoke after the power outage.
Other ways to say: Get ruined, disappear
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from fire destroying things.
Usage: Used when something is completely ruined.
16. Make a mess of it
Meaning: To do something badly
Example Sentence:
– He made a mess of his science project.
– I made a mess of the cake I tried to bake.
Other ways to say: Screw up, do poorly
Fun Fact/Origin: Used often in daily conversation.
Usage: When someone does a bad job.
17. Fall short
Meaning: To not meet a goal
Example Sentence:
– He fell short of winning the race.
– The fundraiser fell short of its goal.
Other ways to say: Miss the mark, not enough
Fun Fact/Origin: Related to missing a target.
Usage: Used in sports, school, or goals.
18. Lose your touch
Meaning: To no longer be good at something
Example Sentence:
– He lost his touch with video games.
– Grandma says she’s lost her touch at baking.
Other ways to say: Lose skill, get rusty
Fun Fact/Origin: Common in sports or creative tasks.
Usage: Used when skills go away over time.
19. Come a cropper
Meaning: To fail badly or fall suddenly
Example Sentence:
– He came a cropper during the race.
– She came a cropper with her big idea.
Other ways to say: Fall down, fail
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from falling off a horse.
Usage: Used in funny or serious ways.
20. Out of your depth
Meaning: Not having enough skill or knowledge
Example Sentence:
– He felt out of his depth in math class.
– I was out of my depth at the coding camp.
Other ways to say: In over your head, unprepared
Fun Fact/Origin: Refers to water being too deep to stand in.
Usage: Used when someone is unready for a task.
21. Faceplant
Meaning: To fail in an obvious or embarrassing way
Example Sentence:
– He faceplanted during the spelling bee.
– Her prank totally faceplanted.
Other ways to say: Flop, fall hard
Fun Fact/Origin: From falling face-first, often used online
Usage: Used in sports, school, or funny moments
22. Choke
Meaning: To fail under pressure
Example Sentence:
– He choked during the free throw.
– I choked on the final question in the quiz.
Other ways to say: Freeze up, panic
Fun Fact/Origin: Popular in sports and competitions
Usage: Used when someone messes up during a big moment
23. Not cut it
Meaning: To not be good enough
Example Sentence:
– His answer didn’t cut it in class.
– That recipe didn’t cut it for the contest.
Other ways to say: Not good enough, not make the grade
Fun Fact/Origin: Likely from tailoring or cooking
Usage: Used when someone or something isn’t up to standard
24. Fall on your face
Meaning: To fail in front of others
Example Sentence:
– I fell on my face during the play.
– The experiment fell on its face in class.
Other ways to say: Embarrass yourself, fail badly
Fun Fact/Origin: From physically falling down
Usage: Often used when someone tries something bold
25. Run into a brick wall
Meaning: To face a problem that stops progress
Example Sentence:
– We ran into a brick wall with the group project.
– She ran into a wall trying to fix the app.
Other ways to say: Hit a roadblock, get stuck
Fun Fact/Origin: Refers to being unable to move past a barrier
Usage: Used in school or work tasks
26. Come unstuck
Meaning: To go wrong or fail
Example Sentence:
– His plan came unstuck at the last step.
– The robot came unstuck during the demo.
Other ways to say: Fall apart, break down
Fun Fact/Origin: UK idiom often used in USA now
Usage: Used when a project falls apart
27. Lay an egg
Meaning: To do something very poorly
Example Sentence:
– The class play laid an egg.
– His joke really laid an egg.
Other ways to say: Fail, bomb
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from old showbiz slang
Usage: Often used in entertainment or school performances
28. Be a dud
Meaning: To be disappointing or useless
Example Sentence:
– That firework was a dud.
– The new app was a total dud.
Other ways to say: Flop, failure
Fun Fact/Origin: A “dud” is a firework that doesn’t go off
Usage: Used for things that don’t work
29. Screw up
Meaning: To make a mistake
Example Sentence:
– I really screwed up my project.
– He screwed up the directions.
Other ways to say: Mess up, get it wrong
Fun Fact/Origin: Common casual American saying
Usage: Used for simple or big mistakes
30. Bomb
Meaning: To fail badly
Example Sentence:
– I bombed the test.
– His joke totally bombed.
Other ways to say: Fail, flop
Fun Fact/Origin: From a show “bombing” with the audience
Usage: Used often in school or comedy
31. Slip up
Meaning: To make a small mistake
Example Sentence:
– I slipped up on one math problem.
– Don’t slip up during the spelling bee.
Other ways to say: Mess up, error
Fun Fact/Origin: Slipping means losing balance
Usage: Used for small errors
32. Go off the rails
Meaning: To go out of control or fail
Example Sentence:
– The plan went off the rails.
– His behavior went off the rails in class.
Other ways to say: Lose control, derail
Fun Fact/Origin: From trains going off the track
Usage: Used when something stops working the right way
33. Hit the skids
Meaning: To go into decline
Example Sentence:
– His grades hit the skids.
– The show hit the skids after season one.
Other ways to say: Decline, go downhill
Fun Fact/Origin: Used in car and racing culture
Usage: When performance or success drops
34. Blow it
Meaning: To fail at something you had a chance to do
Example Sentence:
– He blew it during the spelling test.
– She blew it when she missed the shot.
Other ways to say: Mess up, lose your chance
Fun Fact/Origin: Common in sports
Usage: Used when someone had a chance but failed
35. Be toast
Meaning: To be in big trouble or sure to fail
Example Sentence:
– If I don’t study, I’m toast.
– The team is toast if they don’t score soon.
Other ways to say: In trouble, going to lose
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from burned toast—can’t fix it
Usage: Used when failure is certain
36. Eat dirt
Meaning: To fail or be humiliated
Example Sentence:
– He had to eat dirt after bragging too much.
– The losing team ate dirt.
Other ways to say: Lose, feel embarrassed
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from falling face-first
Usage: Used in friendly or teasing ways
37. Go nowhere fast
Meaning: To make no progress
Example Sentence:
– This project is going nowhere fast.
– We’re going nowhere fast with these ideas.
Other ways to say: Stuck, no progress
Fun Fact/Origin: Often used in traffic or planning
Usage: Used when stuck in a task or goal
38. Be a washout
Meaning: A total failure
Example Sentence:
– The picnic was a washout because of rain.
– His job interview was a washout.
Other ways to say: Fail, disaster
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from storms washing things out
Usage: Often used with weather or events
39. Tank
Meaning: To fail hard
Example Sentence:
– Their sales tanked after the commercial.
– I tanked on the pop quiz.
Other ways to say: Crash, go down
Fun Fact/Origin: Comes from markets or performance dropping
Usage: Used in business, school, or tests
40. Hit the rocks
Meaning: To fail suddenly, like a plan or relationship
Example Sentence:
– Their business hit the rocks last year.
– The group project hit the rocks halfway through.
Other ways to say: Fall apart, fail
Fun Fact/Origin: From ships crashing on rocks
Usage: Used when something breaks or fails badly
41. Mess up big time
Meaning: To make a huge mistake
Example Sentence:
– I messed up big time on my homework.
– He messed up big time during the game.
Other ways to say: Blow it, fail hard
Fun Fact/Origin: Common American slang
Usage: When someone makes a serious error
42. Not your finest hour
Meaning: A time when someone didn’t do well
Example Sentence:
– That test was not my finest hour.
– Spilling soup in the cafeteria wasn’t her finest hour.
Other ways to say: Embarrassing time, bad moment
Fun Fact/Origin: Used politely to talk about failure
Usage: Common in friendly conversations
43. Fall apart at the seams
Meaning: To break down or fail completely
Example Sentence:
– The plan fell apart at the seams.
– Their science fair project fell apart at the seams.
Other ways to say: Collapse, fall to pieces
Fun Fact/Origin: From clothing tearing
Usage: Used for projects, plans, or ideas
44. Kick the bucket (for machines/plans)
Meaning: To stop working or fail
Example Sentence:
– Our printer kicked the bucket.
– My old phone finally kicked the bucket.
Other ways to say: Die, break
Fun Fact/Origin: Also used to mean death in a funny way
Usage: Used with machines or tools
45. Go bust
Meaning: To go out of business or fail
Example Sentence:
– The bookstore went bust.
– Their online shop went bust in a year.
Other ways to say: Close down, fail
Fun Fact/Origin: “Bust” means broken
Usage: Used in business or selling
46. Foul up
Meaning: To make a mess or mistake
Example Sentence:
– He fouled up the directions.
– I fouled up the science experiment.
Other ways to say: Mess up, screw up
Fun Fact/Origin: From sports
Usage: Casual use for mistakes
47. Go off track
Meaning: To lose focus or mess up a plan
Example Sentence:
– Our speech went off track.
– The lesson went off track quickly.
Other ways to say: Lose focus, get sidetracked
Fun Fact/Origin: Refers to trains going off tracks
Usage: Common in classes or meetings
48. Be a flop
Meaning: To be a total failure
Example Sentence:
– The school play was a flop.
– That new gadget was a flop.
Other ways to say: Fail, dud
Fun Fact/Origin: From old theater shows
Usage: Used for events or things that don’t work
49. Strike out
Meaning: To fail, often after trying
Example Sentence:
– He struck out asking her to the dance.
– I struck out on the science quiz.
Other ways to say: Fail, miss out
Fun Fact/Origin: From baseball
Usage: Used when someone tries but fails
50. Fall by the wayside
Meaning: To be left out or forgotten
Example Sentence:
– Many ideas fell by the wayside.
– That club fell by the wayside after a month.
Other ways to say: Forgotten, not used
Fun Fact/Origin: From paths or travel
Usage: When things are not continued
Quiz: Idioms About Failure
Instructions: Choose the correct meaning for each idiom. Only one answer is correct.
Question Key
1. What does “drop the ball” mean?
A) Throw something hard
B) Do something well
C) Make a mistake
2. If someone says “He missed the boat,” what happened?
A) He went on a boat ride
B) He lost a chance
C) He got a free ticket
3. What does “go belly up” mean?
A) To swim
B) To succeed quickly
C) To fail or go out of business
4. What does “fizzle out” describe?
A) Something that slowly fades or stops
B) A loud noise
C) A firework going off
5. What does it mean to “throw in the towel”?
A) To start over
B) To quit or give up
C) To wipe sweat
6. If your plan “goes up in smoke,” what does that mean?
A) It got better
B) It was burned for fun
C) It failed completely
7. What does “choke” mean during a big test or game?
A) Do your best
B) Fail under pressure
C) Talk loudly
8. If someone “lays an egg,” what are they doing?
A) Telling a funny joke
B) Failing badly
C) Playing a game
9. What does it mean when a project “falls through”?
A) It’s completed perfectly
B) It doesn’t happen
C) It falls on the ground
10. What does “be toast” mean in a school setting?
A) You’re very tired
B) You’re in big trouble or sure to fail
C) You’re about to eat
11. What does “mess up big time” mean?
A) Do something very well
B) Sleep late
C) Make a huge mistake
12. If someone says “he bombed the test,” what does that mean?
A) He passed easily
B) He failed badly
C) He skipped a question
13. What does “fall on your face” mean?
A) Fall asleep
B) Fail in a way that is embarrassing
C) Trip while running
14. If an idea is “dead in the water,” what does that mean?
A) It is moving slowly
B) It is full of life
C) It cannot move forward or succeed
15. What does “faceplant” mean in a funny way?
A) Do something great
B) Fail in a silly or clear way
C) Grow a plant
Answer Key
- C – Make a mistake
- B – He lost a chance
- C – To fail or go out of business
- A – Something that slowly fades or stops
- B – To quit or give up
- C – It failed completely
- B – Fail under pressure
- B – Failing badly
- B – It doesn’t happen
- B – You’re in big trouble or sure to fail
- C – Make a huge mistake
- B – He failed badly
- B – Fail in a way that is embarrassing
- C – It cannot move forward or succeed
- B – Fail in a silly or clear way
Wrapping Up
Failure happens to everyone. In the USA, people often use idioms to talk about mistakes in school, sports, or even daily life. These phrases help explain what went wrong, and sometimes they’re funny too. Idioms like “drop the ball” or “go belly up” are easy to hear in conversations across America. They make language more colorful and real.
By learning these 50 idioms about failure—including idioms for failed attempts, idioms about failure in life, and idioms comparing failure and success—you’ll understand how Americans talk about setbacks. And the best part? Even funny idioms about failure remind us not to take mistakes too seriously. Everyone messes up. What matters is getting back up and trying again.
