fail
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
Idioms about fail
without fail, with certainty; positively: I will visit you tomorrow without fail.
Origin of fail
1Other words from fail
- un·failed, adjective
Words Nearby fail
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
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 HubAn 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 LandHe 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 PostHowever, 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 | FortuneI 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 | THE DAILY BEASTDiets not only fail to make us thinner, they also fail to make us healthier in the long term.
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 | THE DAILY BEASTThese banks…are a whole lot bigger now than they were when we bailed them out in 2008 because they were too big to fail.
Instead, everyone agrees it has simply reinscribed too big to fail as explicit law.
It would make everyone careful, of course, but I fail to see any grievance in that.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation | H. G. (Herbert George) WellsWords 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 | VariousWho 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 WillsI knew you would, dear Mr Brammel—a gentleman of your discretion would not fail to do so.
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)
/ (feɪl) /
to be unsuccessful in an attempt (at something or to do something)
(intr) to stop operating or working properly: the 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
a failure to attain the required standard, as in an examination
without fail definitely; with certainty
Origin of fail
1British Dictionary definitions for fail (2 of 2)
/ (fel) /
Scot a turf; sod
Origin of fail
2Collins 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
see without fail; words fail me.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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