nonstarter

From non- + starter.

nonstarter (plural nonstarters)

1. A project that has no chance of success.
   • 2024 December 28, Jonathan Nicholson, “Yes, There Are Ways To Cut The Budget Deficit. 'DOGE' Hasn’t Found Them So Far.”, in HuffPost‎^[1]:

     The problem with the CRFB and CBO ideas is that they would be nonstarters politically.

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.