How to Use unsuccessful in a Sentence

unsuccessful

adjective
Definition of unsuccessfulnext
Synonyms for unsuccessfulnext
  • His last novel was unsuccessful.
  • The Sailors tried the same play twice in the fourth quarter but were unsuccessful.
    — Wright Wilson, Detroit Free Press, 25 Mar. 2023
  • Efforts to trap the bear at that time were unsuccessful.
    — CBS News, 9 Sep. 2023
  • But boycotts against the rom-com have, so far, been unsuccessful.
    — Haley Strack, National Review, 26 Nov. 2023
  • At the time of writing, attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 30 June 2023
  • Attempts by The Times to reach the teacher who quit — who had moved from Montana and was in her first year — were unsuccessful.
    — Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 1 Aug. 2023
  • Attempts to change the status quo have been scarce and unsuccessful.
    — Annalisa Merelli, STAT, 13 Dec. 2023
  • The Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in its statement Monday that the search for the grizzly who attacked was so far unsuccessful.
    — Dennis Romero, NBC News, 25 July 2023
  • Work on the Red Line also appears to have been even unsuccessful.
    — Taylor Dolven, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Apr. 2023
  • Jones was unsuccessful in his efforts to get the case dismissed.
    — Hojun Choi, Dallas News, 28 Mar. 2023
  • Efforts to reach lawyers for the three were unsuccessful Thursday.
    — Ted Bunker, WSJ, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Attempts to reach Taylor and Heiar, who was fired in March, were unsuccessful.
    — Tom Schad, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2023
  • The officer tried to scare the dogs away to stop them attacking the woman, but was unsuccessful.
    — Kirsty Hatcher, Peoplemag, 4 Dec. 2023
  • The Post’s attempts to reach Jones for comment were unsuccessful.
    — Kim Bellware, Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2023
  • The homeowner told police that three men tried to break down his door but were unsuccessful and left.
    — Bradford Betz, Fox News, 28 Dec. 2023
  • Robinson at the time urged the council to issue a vote of no confidence in Platt, but was unsuccessful.
    — Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Officers who arrived at the scene tried to make contact with the man but were unsuccessful.
    — Noah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2023
  • The actor was unsuccessful because the IDP had been removed.
    — Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 23 Oct. 2023
  • Life-saving measures were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
    — Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 6 Oct. 2023
  • If a third pickoff attempt is unsuccessful, it’s ruled a balk.
    — Bobby Nightengale, The Enquirer, 23 Mar. 2023
  • In 1989, Sacramento made an unsuccessful pitch to lure the then-Los Angeles Raiders to town.
    — Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee, 5 Apr. 2024
  • Zhdanov said that his team did manage to find a church and a cemetery on Friday but that its attempts to find a large hall have been unsuccessful.
    — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 28 Feb. 2024
  • After he was taken out of the water, attempts to revive the man were unsuccessful, and he was declared deceased, per The Guardian.
    — Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 30 Sep. 2023
  • And some months after that attempt proved unsuccessful, her parents did call me for help.
    — Wilson M. Sims, Longreads, 7 Sep. 2023
  • The Times has made several attempts to contact Bloom, all of which were unsuccessful.
    — James Queally, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Attempts by a Post reporter to track down and contact any author by that name were unsuccessful.
    — Will Oremus, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024
  • Between the hours when King made the mess and tried to escape through the front door, the husky was trying to free other dogs from their respective kennels but was unsuccessful, the video showed.
    — The Arizona Republic, 9 Jan. 2024
  • Early attempts to make them out of plastic were unsuccessful, but in the 1980s, Lucky Craft figured out the formula.
    — Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 4 Jan. 2024
  • Before the settlement, Hill’s attorneys had been unsuccessful in persuading the judge to order the league to turn over the record.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2023
  • So far, The Post’s attempts to obtain them through public records requests have been unsuccessful.
    — Rennie Svirnovskiy, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unsuccessful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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