epic fail
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]epic fail (plural epic fails)
- (Internet slang, originally 4chan slang) An utter failure, especially where success should have been reasonably expected.
- 2012, Zadie Smith, NW, London: Penguin Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 131:
- Maybe next the cloud overhead would open up and a huge cartoon hand emerge from below, pointing at him, accompanied by a thunderous, authorial voice: TOM MERCER. EPIC FAIL.
- 2013, Wendy M. Anderson, Geraldine Woods, Lesley J. Ward, English Grammar Essentials For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 30:
- The second sentence is saying ‘Gina greedily anticipates even more than the monthly doubling of her bank balance’ — more than is modifying expects. Not the same meaning at all. Sorry computer, epic fail!
- 2014, Sheila Agnew, Central Park Showdown, The O'Brien Press, →ISBN:
- I was happy with my new, more sophisticated haircut but the rest of my efforts were pretty much epic fail.
- 2016, Kristen Reidel, “Bodies Of Water”, in 12 Monkeys, season 2, episode 5 (television production), spoken by Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire):
- I'm tied to a chair. Epic fail.
- 2026 March 16, Peter Baker, “In Choosing ‘Epic Fury,’ Trump Names a War and Defines His Presidency”, in The New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 March 2026:
- The danger of using Epic Fury, as any political consultant could have warned the White House, is that if the war is not perceived as successful, it could easily be mocked as Operation Epic Fail.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]total failure
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