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.
Without structure and proper planning, employees could fall behind on deadlines and actually wind up working round-the-clock.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
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
But it took just three for them to fall behind, the Italians breaking down the defence far too easily to create an overlap for Ostuni Minuzzi down the right wing.
From BBC • May 17, 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
I continued to fall behind in school, so that left only one option: I had to enroll in home school.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
