epäonnistunut

Epäonnistunut is a Finnish adjective meaning failed or unsuccessful. It is used to describe a person, plan, project, or outcome that did not succeed.

Etymology: The word is formed by adding the negation prefix epä- to the verb onnistu- or the verb stem onnistaa, yielding a past participle meaning "not having succeeded." It functions as an adjective or as part of compound expressions in which a noun is described as not having achieved its goal.

Grammatical use: Epäonnistunut agrees with the noun it modifies in number and case, and can appear in attributive position before a noun or predicatively with a linking verb. Examples include "epäonnistunut yritys" (a failed venture) and, in predicative use, "Yritys on epäonnistunut." Finnish inflection follows standard adjective declension, so forms such as epäonnistuneen, epäonnistuneiden, or epäonnistuneita appear depending on case and number.

Usage: The term is common in everyday language as well as in media and business writing. It conveys a negative evaluation but is not extremely harsh; it can describe concrete outcomes (a failed experiment) or more general assessments (a failed attempt). The word often appears in combination with nouns for clarity, and is frequently contrasted with its antonym, onnistunut.

Related terms: Related forms include sekä onnistu-nut (the stem for successful) and the noun epäonnistuminen (failure). The verb form epäonnistua means to fail or to be unsuccessful.

See also: onnistunut, epäonnistuminen, epäonnistua.

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