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fail

/feɪl/

noun

Meaning

  • Poor quality; substandard workmanship.

    "The project was full of fail."

  • A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)

  • A failure (something incapable of success)

  • A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).

  • A failing grade in an academic examination.

verb

Meaning

  • To be unsuccessful.

    "Throughout my life, I have always failed."

  • Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)

    "The truck failed to start."

  • To neglect.

    "The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors."

  • Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.

    "After running five minutes, the engine failed."

  • To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.

  • To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.

    "I failed English last year."

  • To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.

    "The professor failed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments."

  • To miss attaining; to lose.

  • To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.

    "The crops failed last year."

  • 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 vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.

    "A sick man fails."

  • To perish; to die; used of a person.

  • 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.

Synonyms

fall on one's face,
flunk

adjective

Meaning

  • That is a failure.