god that failed
god that failed noun: a notable let-down or flop; a concept, product, or person that has failed to live up to very high expectations.
Noun
god that failed (plural gods that failed)
- A notable let-down or flop; a concept, product, or person that has failed to live up to very high expectations.
- And it is just because [Sartre’s] early post-war influence was so great, and his intellectual magnetism so hypnotic, that today he has left such disarray among intellectuals throughout France. God has failed him; but he, too, is a god that failed. Today his public utterances still make headlines...1969, John Ardagh, The New French Revolution, page 359
- Only the ones who stay away can come to terms with [Bob] Dylan’s new irrelevance. He never pretended to have any answers and, now that he seems to have no questions either, he may finally have made it into the ranks of the gods that failed.1980 September 18, Gary Herman, “Highway 61 re-routed”, in New Society, volume 53, number 931, page 571
Examples of god that failed in a sentence
- God has failed him; but he, too, is a god that failed.1969, John Ardagh, The New French Revolution, page 359:
- For most Assam locals, tea eventually became the god that failed.2011, Jayeeta Sharma, Empire’s Garden: Assam and the Making of India, →ISBN, page 13:
Forms of god that failed
| plural | gods that failed |
|---|
Origin of god that failed
Popularised by The God that Failed (1949), a volume of essays by ex-communists critiquing communism.
Questions about god that failed
- What does god that failed mean?
- God that failed means a notable let-down or flop; a concept, product, or person that has failed to live up to very high expectations.
- How do you use god that failed in a sentence?
- God has failed him; but he, too, is a god that failed.
- What part of speech is god that failed?
- God that failed is a noun.
- What is the plural of god that failed?
- The plural of god that failed is gods that failed.
Words near god that failed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: god that failed (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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