without fail

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For certain, as in That check will arrive tomorrow morning without fail. This idiom today is used mainly to strengthen a statement. [Early 1700s]

QUIZZES

Are you aware how often people swap around “their,” “there,” and “they’re”? Prove you have more than a fair grasp over these commonly confused words.

Question 1 of 7

Which one of these commonly confused words can act as an adverb or a pronoun?

Without it, they say, the disease would surely kill her within two years.
Should Teens Have The Right To Die?|Brandy Zadrozny|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Most often, the doctrine is invoked by minors seeking an abortion without parental consent.
Should Teens Have The Right To Die?|Brandy Zadrozny|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
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
The research literature, too, asks these questions, and not without reason.
How Skinny Is Too Skinny? Israel Bans ‘Underweight’ Models|Carrie Arnold|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

Then they came up against a police patrol on mountain bicycles, which again led to more shooting, without injuries.
Police Hunt for Paris Massacre Suspects|Tracy McNicoll, Christopher Dickey|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He held it, but it was without pressure; without recognizance of the delight with which he once grasped it.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Sol laughed out of his whiskers, with a big, loose-rolling sound, and sat on the porch without waiting to be asked.
The Bondboy|George W. (George Washington) Ogden
She had listened—she had listened intently, looking straight out of the window and without moving.
Confidence|Henry James
Without preface, he abruptly asked, what had been told him of the Duke of Wharton's behaviour the preceding night.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
Nevertheless the evening and the night passed away without incident.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various