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fail - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'fail' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Fail [ v. i.]
- To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams fail; crops fail.
- To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
- To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
- To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
- To perish; to die; -- used of a person.
- To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
- To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired ; to be baffled or frusrated.
- To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
- To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent.
- Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
- Death; decease.
2 . Fail [ v. t.]
- To be wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
- To miss of attaining; to lose.

Meaning of 'fail' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . fail [ v]
Meaning (1):
- become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close
Example in sentence:
  • A number of banks failed that year;
  • The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor
Meaning (2):
- fail to get a passing grade
Example in sentence:
  • Did I fail the test?;
  • She studied hard but failed nevertheless
Meaning (3):
- stop operating or functioning
Example in sentence:
  • her eyesight went after the accident;
  • The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town;
  • The car died on the road;
  • The coffee maker broke;
  • The engine failed on the way to town;
  • The engine finally went
Meaning (4):
- get worse
Example in sentence:
  • Her health is declining;
  • His grades suffered;
  • My grades are slipping
Meaning (5):
- disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
Example in sentence:
  • His children failed him in the crisis;
  • His sense of smell failed him this time;
  • His strength finally failed him
Meaning (6):
- be unable
Example in sentence:
  • I fail to understand your motives
Meaning (7):
- fall short in what is expected
Example in sentence:
  • She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law;
  • We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust
Meaning (8):
- fail to do something; leave something undone
Example in sentence:
  • She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib;
  • The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account
Meaning (9):
- be unsuccessful
Example in sentence:
  • The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably;
  • Where do today's public schools fail?
Meaning (10):
- judge unacceptable
Example in sentence:
  • The teacher failed six students
Meaning (11):
- prove insufficient
Example in sentence:
  • The water supply for the town failed after a long drought

Nearby Words:

faience failance failed failing faille failure fain faineant faint fainted

See 'fail' also in:

Dictionary.com Google Translator Wikipedia.com Merriam Webster

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