Briefly, a state of failure? (4)

I believe the answer is:

miss

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'failure?' is the definition.
(I know that miss is a type of failure)

I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.

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(Other definitions for miss that I've seen before include "Single girl" , "Fail to see or hit" , "Strike noisily; criticise" , "Austria/Italy region" , "Musical set in Vietnam" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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