"foundered" is a correct and usable word in written English.
It is a verb meaning to become crippled, exhausted, or destroyed, often used in the phrase "founder on (something)." Example: The ship foundered on the rocky shore.
Attempts to re-establish the executive, with the Rev Paisley and Mr Adams at the helm, foundered after the IRA was accused of carrying out an armed raid on a Belfast branch of Northern Bank and murdering Robert McCartney.
For all of Chafee's discussion of the Iraq war he foundered in questions from the press about more recent foreign policy issues.
In 1983, when 70,000 people linked arms in a human chain around the 14-mile perimeter fence at Greenham, those negotiations foundered.
European attempts to forge a common position have foundered, with Germany opposing the Palestinian request and France's president, François Hollande, wavering but then favouring it again.
The slain staff and contributors to Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the exact images and words used by Charlie Hebdo, but well-meaning support for the magazine has until now foundered on the fear of republishing those supposedly offensive creations.
In their epic first match – KK1, as it is called, ran to 48 games – Kasparov's attacks foundered on Karpov's fine positional understanding.
Negotiations between the national government and federal unions, which are meant to set a minimum benchmark for the provinces, also foundered.
Efforts to establish a regional operations centre, where intelligence could be shared and responses co-ordinated, have foundered among squabbles over its location.
But attempts to build power plants in such places have foundered because the water is generally too deep to attach a traditional turbine's tower to the seabed.One way round this would be to put the turbine on a floating platform, tethered with cables to the seabed.
These led to over a dozen public inquiries, cost millions of pounds and foundered on objections from the trust (which tends to dislike new buildings of any kind), or from planners, or due to a want of cash.
He judges that among the Taliban are "reasonable people" ready to be guided by instructions from their leader, Mullah Omar, should he sue for peace.Back channels between the Afghan Taliban and the government in Kabul, the Afghan capital, have long existed, yet previous hopes of talks have foundered.
