fall by the wayside

Idioms

Fail to continue, drop out, as in At first she did well on the tour, but with all the pressure she soon fell by the wayside. This phrase appeared in William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament (1526; Luke 8:5).

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.

Some big names did fall by the wayside, with Italian champions Napoli being bundled out along with three former champions in Marseille, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.

From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026

Those who can’t govern may fall by the wayside.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 29, 2025

“Sometimes you end up trying too hard, and things sort of fall by the wayside or get eaten up by the try-hardness of it all,” Harjo said.

From Salon • Oct. 8, 2025

"Somehow we've managed not to fall by the wayside," said Simon, whose family sold the dairy farm not long after the pandemic, making the theme park the couple's main source of income.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

Our best men began to stagger from the ranks and fall by the wayside, while every piece of woods we passed was filled with prostrate men, gasping, and some evidently dying.

From An Original Belle by Roe, Edward Payson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023