fail Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb fail to do something; leave something undone
    neglect.
    • 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
  2. verb be unsuccessful
    miscarry; go wrong.
    • Where do today's public schools fail?
    • The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably
  3. verb disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
    betray.
    • His sense of smell failed him this time
    • His strength finally failed him
    • His children failed him in the crisis
  4. verb stop operating or functioning
    die; give out; give way; break; go; go bad; conk out; break down.
    • The engine finally went
    • The car died on the road
    • The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town
    • The coffee maker broke
    • The engine failed on the way to town
    • her eyesight went after the accident
  5. verb be unable
    • I fail to understand your motives
  6. verb judge unacceptable
    • The teacher failed six students
  7. verb fail to get a passing grade
    flush it; bomb; flunk.
    • She studied hard but failed nevertheless
    • Did I fail the test?
  8. verb fall short in what is expected
    • She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law
    • We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust
  9. verb become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close
    • The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor
    • A number of banks failed that year
  10. verb prove insufficient
    run out; give out.
    • The water supply for the town failed after a long drought
  11. verb get worse
    • Her health is declining

WordNet

Fail intransitive verb
Etymology
F. failir, fr. L. fallere, falsum, to deceive, akin to E. fall. See Fail, and cf. Fallacy, False, Fault.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Failed ; present participle & verbal noun Failing
Definitions
  1. 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.
    As the waters fail from the sea. Job xiv. 11.
    Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign. Shak.
  2. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
    If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size. Berke.
  3. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
    When earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail. Milton.
  4. To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
  5. To perish; to die; -- used of a person. Obs.
    Had the king in his last sickness failed. Shak.
  6. 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.
    Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. Ezra iv. 22.
    Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. Shak.
  7. To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired ; to be baffled or frusrated.
    Our envious foe hath failed. Milton.
  8. To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
    Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not. Milton.
  9. 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.
Fail transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
    There shall not fail thee a man on the throne. 1 Kings ii. 4.
  2. To miss of attaining; to lose. R.
    Though that seat of earthly bliss be failed. Milton.
Fail noun
Etymology
OF. faille, from failir. See Fail, v. i.
Definitions
  1. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail. "His highness' fail of issue." Shak.
  2. Death; decease. Obs. Shak.

Webster 1913