Fellow's total failure (4)
I believe the answer is:
fall
'failure' is the definition.
(fall is a kind of failure)
'fellow's total' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'f' (abbreviation - of a society etc.).
'total' becomes 'all' (I've seen this before).
'f'+'all'='FALL'
(Other definitions for fall that I've seen before include "The American autumn" , "Rapid descent" , "Quarrel" , "Trip over - flag" , "Drop; autumn" .)