Learn English – What do I call a person who is well qualified but has failed in his life

phrase-requestssingle-word-requests

I am writing a story, and I need a single word or phrase as a topic for

A person who has failed to achieve success despite his high educational attainment.

Here is an example:

A person has Masters and Ph.D. degrees, but is a poor shopkeeper. He cannot even arrange the basic facilities of life for himself and his family.

The word could be a noun or an adjective.

Best Answer

This person is an

overeducated underachiever

overeducated: Having been educated to a higher academic level than is necessary. (Oxford Living Dictionaries)

underachiever: someone who is less successful than they should be at school or at work (Cambridge)

Or you could say this person

is highly educated, but short on common sense.

Or that he

has his head in the clouds

or he

is too smart for his own good.

Loser, failure, flop, useless could be used in place of underachiever, but they're more hurtful words.

(There might also be a good word in Yiddish for this.)

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