fail-safe
[feyl-seyf]
- Electronics. pertaining to or noting a mechanism built into a system, as in an early warning system or a nuclear reactor, for insuring safety should the system fail to operate properly.
- equipped with a secondary system that insures continued operation even if the primary system fails.
- (sometimes initial capital letter) of, relating to, or designating a system of coded military controls in which bombers dispatched to a prearranged point as part of a standard operating procedure cannot advance farther without direct orders from a designated authority and cannot have the nuclear warheads they carry armed until they have passed their prearranged point.
- guaranteed to work; totally reliable: a fail-safe recipe for a cheese soufflé.
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- (sometimes initial capital letter) the point beyond which the bombers cannot go without specific instruction; the fail-safe point.
- something designed to work or function automatically to prevent breakdown of a mechanism, system, or the like.
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- to make fail-safe.
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Origin of fail-safe
First recorded in 1945–50; apparently from verb phrase to fail safe(ly)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fail-safe
Contemporary Examples
So as we lurch toward the next “fail-safe” milestone, there must be a way out for both sides.
For example, at Three Mile Island, a fail-safe feature actually made the meltdown worse.
My Social Chef recommends the perfect, fail-safe roast chicken recipe.
Historical Examples
Internally, the communications beam to Thule Base had been interrupted; and the fail-safe had not failed-safely.
Where I Wasn't GoingWalt Richmond
fail-safe
- designed to return to a safe condition in the event of a failure or malfunction
- (of a nuclear weapon) capable of being deactivated in the event of a failure or accident
- unlikely to fail; foolproof
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- (intr) to return to a safe condition in the event of a failure or malfunction
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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