Noun

(en noun)

State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 5, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , passage=For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 23, author=Angelique Chrisafis, work=the Guardian

, title= François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election , passage=Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure . It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.}}

An object, person or endeavour in a state of failure or incapable of success.

Termination of the ability of an item to perform its required function, breakdown.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.}}

Noun

(en noun)

A failure, particularly mechanical; something that has failed

We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.

A physical collapse or lapse of mental stability

After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.

Listing, division or categorization in great detail

''Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.

(chemistry) Breaking of chemical bonds within a compound to produce simpler compounds or elements.

A musical technique, by where the music is stripped down, becoming simpler, and can vary in heaviness depending on the genre.

* 1992 , En Vogue, My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) (song)

And now it's time for a breakdown !

(sports) A loss of organization (of the parts of a system).

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 18 , author=Ben Dirs , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.}}

(US, dated) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the blacks of the southern United States.

(US, dated) Any crude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.

* (rfdate) New Eng. Tales

Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with.

(US) Any rapid bluegrass dance tune, especially featuring a five-string banjo.

Foggy Mountain 'Breakdown'

* 1893 , (Mark Twain) "The Californian's Tale", in (1906)

Towards nine the three miners said that as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up, for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for a good old fashioned breakdown . A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet - these were the instruments.

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* {{quote-book, ???, title=Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses, page=102,

books.google.com/books?isbn=1592403778, author=Stephen Davis, year=2008, passage=Izzy lays down some big chords while Slash plays the song's banjo breakdown of a theme.}}

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