fail

[ feyl ]

/ feɪl /

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See synonyms for: fail / failed / failing / fails on Thesaurus.com

Definition of fail

verb (used without object)

to fall short of success or achievement in something expected, attempted, desired, or approved: The experiment failed because of poor planning.

to receive less than the passing grade or mark in an examination, class, or course of study: He failed in history.

to be or become deficient or lacking; be insufficient or absent; fall short: Our supplies failed.

to dwindle, pass, or die away: The flowers failed for lack of rain.

to lose strength or vigor; become weak: His health failed after the operation.

to become unable to meet or pay debts or business obligations; become insolvent or bankrupt.

(of a building member, structure, machine part, etc.) to break, bend, crush, or be otherwise destroyed or made useless because of an excessive load.

to stop functioning or operating: The electricity failed during the storm.

Slang.

to make an embarrassing or humorous mistake, be in a humiliating situation, etc., and be subject to ridicule: Showed up late to the wedding? You fail!
to be embarrassingly incompetent, stupid, etc.: She fails at life. I just failed at walking and fell on my face.
to be bad or of inferior quality: The play is terrible—even the music fails.

verb (used with object)

to be unsuccessful in the performance or completion of: He failed to do his duty.

(of some expected or usual resource) to prove of no use or help to: His friends failed him. Words failed her.

to receive less than a passing grade or mark in: He failed history.

to declare (a person) unsuccessful in a test, course of study, etc.; give less than a passing grade to: The professor failed him in history.

noun

Slang.

an embarrassing or humorous mistake, humiliating situation, etc., that is subject to ridicule and given an exaggerated importance: Their app update is a massive fail.
the condition or quality resulting from having failed in this way: His online post is full of fail.
a person who fails in this way.

Stock Exchange.

a stockbroker's inability to deliver or receive security within the required time after sale or purchase.
such an undelivered security.

Obsolete. failure as to performance, occurrence, etc.

interjection

Slang.

(used to mock an embarrassing or humorous mistake, humiliating situation, etc., giving it an exaggerated importance): A tattoo that misspells your name? Fail!
(used to indicate that something is bad or of inferior quality)

adjective

unsuccessful; failed: a totally fail policy.

Slang.

of or noting an embarrassing or humorous mistake, humiliating situation, etc.: the top 100 funniest fail photos on the internet.
embarrassingly incompetent, stupid, etc: Why am I so fail?
very bad or of inferior quality.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about fail

without fail, with certainty; positively: I will visit you tomorrow without fail.

Origin of fail

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English failen, from Anglo-French, Old French faillir, from unattested Vulgar Latin fallīre, for Latin fallere “to disappoint, deceive”

OTHER WORDS FROM fail

un·failed, adjective

Words nearby fail

Fa-hsien, FAI, Faial, Faidherbe, faience, fail, failed, failed star, failed state, failing, faille

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fail in a sentence

In this kind of “lights-out” datacenter, the servers would be swapped out about once every five years, with any that fail before then being taken offline.
Microsoft Had a Crazy Idea to Put Servers Under Water—and It Totally Worked|Vanessa Bates Ramirez|September 17, 2020|Singularity Hub
An engineer’s brilliant plan for an automated system that would work for the billion dollar travel entity, but result in the failed account of the small realtor isn’t actually the right way…even if it’s more efficient for some automated program.
This decade’s most important marketing question: What data rights do advertisers possess?|Kirk Williams|September 17, 2020|Search Engine Land
He constantly insists that his approval rating among Republicans is at 96 percent, an invented figure, and nearly as often insists that polls are failing to capture his full support.
If voters are wary of stating support for Trump in polls, why does he outperform GOP Senate candidates?|Philip Bump|September 16, 2020|Washington Post
However, the system was triggered erroneously by a single sensor that failed in both crashes and it continued to push the nose down repeatedly.
Boeing crashes were the “horrific culmination” of multiple mistakes, House report says|kdunn6|September 16, 2020|Fortune

I woke up before 7 AM, and the feeling of dread increased with every passing hour as the sun failed to appear.
For millions of Americans, the wildfires made climate change real|Michael J. Coren|September 15, 2020|Quartz
The Big Five banks dubbed too big to fail, are 35 percent bigger than they were when the meltdown was triggered.
Sen. Warren’s Main Street Crusade to Pressure Clinton|Eleanor Clift|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Diets not only fail to make us thinner, they also fail to make us healthier in the long term.
Why Your New Year’s Diet Will Fail|Carrie Arnold|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Direct funds away from practices, policies, and programs that consistently fail to achieve measurable outcomes.
Can the U.S. Government Go Moneyball?|Peter Orszag, Jim Nussle|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
These banks…are a whole lot bigger now than they were when we bailed them out in 2008 because they were too big to fail.
How Naive is Elizabeth Warren?|Nick Gillespie|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Instead, everyone agrees it has simply reinscribed too big to fail as explicit law.
How Naive is Elizabeth Warren?|Nick Gillespie|December 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It would make everyone careful, of course, but I fail to see any grievance in that.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Words fail to describe my feelings as I watched the clothes come off him and dry ones go on just as if hands were arranging them.
Uncanny Tales|Various
Who among us would fail to believe what we have, perhaps, secretly wished for in our heart of hearts?
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
I knew you would, dear Mr Brammel—a gentleman of your discretion would not fail to do so.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
If you did fail, you would try Exclusion, and you would find nothing which is the antithesis of the area of New York.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)

British Dictionary definitions for fail (1 of 2)

fail¹

/ (feɪl) /

verb

to be unsuccessful in an attempt (at something or to do something)

(intr) to stop operating or working properlythe steering failed suddenly

to judge or be judged as being below the officially accepted standard required for success in (a course, examination, etc)

(tr) to prove disappointing, undependable, or useless to (someone)

(tr) to neglect or be unable (to do something)

(intr) to prove partly or completely insufficient in quantity, duration, or extent

(intr) to weaken; fade away

(intr) to go bankrupt or become insolvent

noun

a failure to attain the required standard, as in an examination

without fail definitely; with certainty

Word Origin for fail

C13: from Old French faillir, ultimately from Latin fallere to disappoint; probably related to Greek phēlos deceitful

British Dictionary definitions for fail (2 of 2)

fail²

/ (fel) /

noun

Scot a turf; sod

Word Origin for fail

perhaps from Scottish Gaelic fàl

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with fail

fail

see without fail; words fail me.

fail

Definition of fail

Idioms about fail

Origin of fail

OTHER WORDS FROM fail

Words nearby fail

Words related to fail

How to use fail in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fail (1 of 2)

Word Origin for fail

British Dictionary definitions for fail (2 of 2)

Word Origin for fail

Other Idioms and Phrases with fail