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fail

[feyl]

verb (used without object)

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.

EXPAND

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.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

to be unsuccessful in the performance or completion of: He failed to do his duty.

10.

(of some expected or usual resource) to prove of no use or help to: His friends failed him. Words failed her.

11.

to receive less than a passing grade or mark in: He failed history.

12.

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.

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Fail is one of our favorite verbs.

So is yaff. Does it mean:

to run away hurriedly; flee.

to bark; yelp.

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noun

13.

Stock Exchange.

a stockbroker's inability to deliver or receive security within the required time after sale or purchase.

such an undelivered security.

14.

Obsolete. failure as to performance, occurrence, etc.

Idiom

15.

without fail, with certainty; positively: I will visit you tomorrow without fail.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English failen < Anglo-French, Old French faillir < Vulgar Latin *fallīre, for Latin fallere to disappoint, deceive

Related forms

un·failed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To fail

Example Sentences

There is no question that you might fail if you try something new.

Most commenting systems that promise anonymity fail to deliver it.

But what many opponents of the project worry about is what happens if those normal operations fail.

EXPAND

There is no question that you might fail if you try something new.

Most commenting systems that promise anonymity fail to deliver it.

But what many opponents of the project worry about is what happens if those normal operations fail.

If states fail and chaos reigns there will be no order, liberty, freedom an so on.

For example, monkeys have shown signs of self-monitoring on mental tasks even though they fail the mirror test.

It's always seemed perverse to me that many native plants fail to be fully appreciated until they move out of state.

There are several points at which a saliva sample can fail to yield high-quality genetic data.

Many of the colleges would fail that test if they had to count military aid as federal money.

They become dogmatic about their specific practices and fail to question their relevance when conditions change.

My advice for young explorers, or anyone, is dream big and dare to fail.

When a flood comes along that's bigger than that design standard, the levee will be overtopped or fail.

Taking jelly beans one at a time, you can easily fail to realize that you favor a single color.

Some plants remain vigorous despite the infection, but others decline or fail to set fruit.

But the usual critiques fail to recognize its potential for experiential learning.

Iceland let its banks fail out of necessity, not choice.

If you don't try to accomplish your dream, you fail before you start.

What this and all other articles fail to mention is that many of these people simply do not have a strong moral character.

You're more likely to stick with a tough problem, even if you fail at first.

Whether small votives or hurricane lamps, candles never fail to enhance the ambience.

The system may fail in large organizations because no one can obtain the big picture.

Markets don't fail, but states can force markets to fail.

Above a certain temperature, a transformer will fail.

As much as they are testable, they fail gregariously.

Everyone in the room had experienced the same performance pressure that had caused the boy to fail.

Plants go dormant after bloom and need no water unless winter rains fail.

But babies born without effective nerve connections between skin and brain can fail to thrive and may even die.

Often the landowner doesn't act quickly enough or the police fail to drive out the squatters.

Bare-root plants, especially in larger sizes, sometimes fail to leaf out.

As long as the belay loop is not excessively worn, there is no chance it will fail.

Its morale becomes low, its wealth and legacy are quickly squandered and its fail is inevitable.

Many herbaceous perennials from colder regions fail here because the winters are too warm for them to go dormant.

The skills he is teaching them are not easily acquired and often they fail before they get it right.

It's amazing what people can fail to see unless they're looking for it.

The varieties described here either fail to fruit at all or bear fruit that is more decorative than tasty.

If something has too many possible fail points, you will fail it.

The varieties described here either fail to fruit at all or bear fr more add to my plant list.

Over a third of all buildings would fall, fires would rage, and bridges would fail.

In other words, the garden has to be good enough to pay its own way-or fail.

Still, their best efforts at blending in sometimes fail.

The academy failed and continues to fail to answer the question of value, or even to echo the best of the existing answers.

The answer is that the bank, though tiny, is too important to fail.

Join the war against the insects, and watch one frustrated city dweller fail-and fail again-to rid his.

Indeed, the vast majority of cloned embryos fail to fully develop.

It's about our obsession with high-stakes testing and the inconvenient fact that these tests often fail to predict.

We would not fail a student because the student needed to re-write.

Despite their ubiquity, these risk models fail to take into.

As a consumer, the products fail and as a human, the social scenarios fail.

If educators are to only give out so many grades, then they must fail certain people.

The first is to make it less likely that banks will fail in the next crisis.

Ahhh, midsummer, when space travelers fail their sobriety tests.

If you're a guy, there are many ways you can fail to get lucky.

Many job applicants seeking academic positions in another country fail to ask about the conditions that their families will face.

Many firms' attempts to train their staff to understand cultural issues fail.

But a rating does not tell the entire story: a rose with a low rating may fail in some regions but flourish in others.

Players can fail if they don't re-create guitar gods' every hammer-on and power chor.

It's because the players fail to take into account a number of key factors in how they execute their.

Many companies also fail to report some contingent trade-finance liabilities.

But by and large, majorities of young adults fail at a range of questions testing their basic geographic literacy.

Others insist that the geological data fail to support this configuration.

I've always been fascinated with how our brains function-or, in some cases, fail to function.

He sees statistics that fail to reflect the experiences of the campus's students.

Grand designs that posit synergies to be gained from combining disparate businesses frequently fail.

Because the prairie dog defense system is so good, predators frequently fail and must look elsewhere for dinner.

But they fail to note that the weak force is unique in treating matter and antimatter asymmetrically.

In fact he believed that enemies and rivals had concocted the idea in order to see him fail on a grand scale.

They fail more when subjected to pressure or trauma.

Green means they're doing well, yellow means they're faltering, and red means they might fail.

If you fail to see the humor in this, perhaps these aren't the books for you.

Colleges that fail to do so may lose their eligibility to award federal student aid to that states' students.

As a market, if not individually, they are too big to fail.

The models predict the gears could fail if they begin slipping but the bonds that form them would not be severed.

Or else, you fail certain courses at a school called.

As a result, farmers are increasingly left with fields of flowering crops that fail to bear fruit.

We know that short term efforts at self-restraint tend to fail and that they are frustrating.

People you thought were your friends may fail to support you.

Above the photo was a warning to employers that they could face jail time if they fail to observe the law.

Legislation puts calories on a package but folk fail to relate how much energy is available vs what a body needs.

The cells may repair such damage, but sometimes they fail and become cancerous.

There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death.

What people truely fail to grasp is the advent of the coydog.

If artificial lights are present, they often head toward those lights instead and fail to reach the sea.

Even with all this equipment, some satellites still fail.

These ritual carnivals appear every year without fail and are the one place where boundaries dissolve, if only for a week.

They may therefore fail to make judgments about other people's emotions.

Under such predation, black-capped vireos fail to reproduce at a rate that can sustain their population.

Many disillusioned mujahidin say that the parties fail either to supply arms or to achieve political unity.

Fail the humility test, and the desert will surely kill you.

Two years later, a horrified crowd sees the stunt artist's parachute fail.

They also contend that the official numbers fail to represent the true extent of the.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

fail¹ (feɪl)

—vb
1.	to be unsuccessful in an attempt (at something or to do something)
2.	(intr) to stop operating or working properly: the steering failed suddenly
3.	to judge or be judged as being below the officially accepted standard required for success in (a course, examination, etc)
4.	(tr) to prove disappointing, undependable, or useless to (someone)
5.	(tr) to neglect or be unable (to do something)
6.	(intr) to prove partly or completely insufficient in quantity, duration, or extent
7.	(intr) to weaken; fade away
8.	(intr) to go bankrupt or become insolvent

—n
9.	a failure to attain the required standard, as in an examination
10.	without fail definitely; with certainty

[C13: from Old French faillir, ultimately from Latin fallere to disappoint; probably related to Greek phēlos deceitful]

fail² (fel)

—n
	(Scot) a turf; sod

[perhaps from Scottish Gaelic fàl]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

fail

early 13c., from O.Fr. faillir "be lacking, miss, not succeed," from V.L. *fallire, from L. fallere "deceive, be lacking or defective." Related: Failed; failing. Replaced O.E. abreoðan. The Anglo-Norm. form, failer, came to be used as a noun, hence failure.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

fail

see without fail; words fail me.

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Idioms & Phrases

without fail

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"Let no one's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

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