fail

English Dictionary -> Letter F -> fail

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fail Definition

• (v) fail to do something; leave something undone; "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"
• (v) be unsuccessful; "Where do today''s public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
• (v) disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
• (v) stop operating or functioning; "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"
• (v) be unable; "I fail to understand your motives"
• (v) judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students"
• (v) fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?"
• (v) 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"
• (v) 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"
• (v) prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
• (v) get worse; "Her health is declining"

fail Synonyms

• betray
• bomb
• break
• break down
• conk out
• die
• fail
• flunk
• flush it
• give out
• give way
• go
• go bad
• go wrong
• miscarry
• neglect
• run out