fall behind
Britishverb
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to drop back; fail to keep up
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to be in arrears, as with a payment
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Also, get behind.
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Lag, fail to keep up, as in You really must keep up with the others; if you fall behind you could get lost . [First half of 1500s]
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Be financially in arrears, as in He fell behind in his payments . [Mid-1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For instance, a clock traveling at 10 m/s for 57 million years would fall behind a stationary clock by about one second.
From Science Daily • May 18, 2026
It also has the power to recover arrears if parents fall behind with payments.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Interest rates, economic growth expectations, inflation trends, and credit conditions often determine which parts of the market lead and which fall behind.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
If she moves too slowly, OpenAI could fall behind and hit the market behind Anthropic, missing out on pools of investor money.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
“It isn’t fair—but you can’t fall behind since you only just began. I want you to go.”
From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
