nonstarter

See also: non-starter

English

Etymology

non- +‎ starter

Noun

nonstarter (plural nonstarters)

1. A project that has no chance of success.
2. A horse that does not run in a race for which it has been entered.
3. A loser; a person who is bound to fail.
   • 1999, Dana Stabenow, Hunter's Moon, →ISBN, page 225:

     But Berg was just a fool, a buffoon, a nonentity, a nonstarter so inept he took naps under bear bair.