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 competitor thought unlikely to win.

* 2004: The New Yorker, 30 August 2004, p.40

In Athens, the Americans are underdogs to the Chinese and the Canadians

* 2014 , Jacob Steinberg, " Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals", The Guardian , 9 March 2014:

The visit of a Championship side would not normally send a shiver down their spine but they knew that Wigan were underdogs who would snap at their heels and that they possessed a potent bite if they were not kept on a firm leash.

Somebody at a disadvantage.

A high swing wherein the person pushing the swing runs beneath the swing while the person being pushed is at the forward limit of the arc.