washout

washout
    n 1: the channel or break produced by erosion of relatively soft
         soil by water; "it was several days after the storm before
         they could repair the washout and open the road"
    2: the erosive process of washing away soil or gravel by water
       (as from a roadway); "from the house they watched the washout
       of their newly seeded lawn by the water" [syn: {washout},
       {wash}]
    3: someone who is unsuccessful [syn: {flop}, {dud}, {washout}]
    

Washout \Wash"out`\, n.
   1. The washing out or away of earth, etc., especially of a
      portion of the bed of a road or railroad by a fall of rain
      or a freshet; also, a place, especially in the bed of a
      road or railroad, where the earth has been washed away.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. a complete failure; -- of an enterprise.
      [PJC]

   3. a person who has failed a course of study or training,
      leaving the program before its completion.
      [PJC]
    

100 Moby Thesaurus words for "washout":
      ablution, airmanship, alluvion, alluvium, also-ran, bankrupt,
      bollix, bomb, botch, breakdown, breaking up, breakup, brief,
      briefing, bungle, bust, cataclysm, catastrophe, cave, cave-in,
      cleaning out, collapse, crack-up, crash, debacle, deluge, disaster,
      douche, douching, dud, dull thud, elution, elutriation, enema,
      engulfment, failure, false alarm, fiasco, fizzle, flat failure,
      flight plan, flood, flop, floperoo, flunk, flush, flushing,
      flushing out, flying lessons, foozle, frost, hash, inundation,
      irrigation, lathering, lavabo, lavage, lavation, laving, lemon,
      loser, mess, mopping, mopping up, muddle, overflow, overflowing,
      overrunning, pilot training, pilotship, rinse, rinsing, rundown,
      scouring, scrub, scrubbing, scrubbing up, shampoo, shipwreck,
      smash, smashup, soaping, spill, spillage, sponge, sponging,
      submersion, swabbing, the Deluge, the Flood, total loss, turkey,
      wash, washing, washing up, washup, whelming, wiping up, wrack,
      wreck