Meanings
noundefailment (plural defailments)
plural defailments
- obsoleteFailure.First known use 17th c.
True it is Argall lost his voyage, but we revictualled him, and sent him for England, with a true relation of the causes of our defailments [...].
1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 120
Origin
- Frenchdéfaillement
- Englishdefailment
From French défaillement.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
defailment. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defailment
MLA
“defailment.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defailment. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “defailment,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/defailment.
Source: defailment on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.