A computer referring to a critical failure
Failure was the factual or perceived status of not accomplishing a desired goal or objective. This was the opposite of victory or success.
In 2366, after a series of malfunctions aboard the USS Enterprise-D, Paul Stubbs was disappointed at the prospect of being unable to study a stellar explosion which occurred every 196 years in an unnamed binary star system in the Kavis Alpha sector. Whether as a result of death or the Enterprise safely exiting the system and missing the explosion, Stubbs believed he lost his chance to conduct his experiment and bring about a brand-new era of astrophysics which would now be postponed. "The egg that Stubbs laid," he lamented to Wesley Crusher in reference to his probe sitting in shuttlebay 2. Crusher assured him that no one would say that, but Stubbs retorted that nobody would say anything or mention them at all. Stubbs wasn't sure that he could live with failure, but to never try, and to "miss your one chance at bat" was too much. Ultimately, his failure was short-lived as he would go on to launch his probe and conduct the experiment. (TNG: "Evolution")