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Definition of Fail
1. Verb. Fail to do something; leave something undone. "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"
Specialized synonyms: Lose Track, Strike Out, Default, Default On, Choke, Muff, Miss
Derivative terms: Failure, Neglect
2. Verb. Be unsuccessful. "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
Specialized synonyms: Take It On The Chin, Miss, Overreach, Ball Up, Blow, Bobble, Bodge, Bollix, Bollix Up, Bollocks, Bollocks Up, Botch, Botch Up, Bumble, Bungle, Flub, Fluff, Foul Up, Fuck Up, Fumble, Louse Up, Mess Up, Mishandle, Muck Up, Muff, Screw Up, Spoil, Strike Out, Fall, Shipwreck, Fall Flat, Fall Through, Flop, Founder
Derivative terms: Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure, Miscarriage
Antonyms: Succeed
3. Verb. Disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake. "His children failed him in the crisis"
4. Verb. Stop operating or functioning. "These cars won't fail "; "Her eyesight went after the accident"
Generic synonyms: Change
Related verbs: Break, Buy The Farm, Cash In One's Chips, Choke, Conk, Croak, Decease, Die, Drop Dead, Exit, Expire, Give-up The Ghost, Go, Kick The Bucket, Pass, Pass Away, Perish, Pop Off, Snuff It
Specialized synonyms: Crash, Go Down, Blow, Blow Out, Burn Out, Misfire, Malfunction, Misfunction
Derivative terms: Breakable, Breakdown, Failure
5. Verb. Be unable. "I fail to understand your motives"
6. Verb. Judge unacceptable. "The teacher failed six students"
Related verbs: Bomb, Flunk, Flush It
Derivative terms: Failing
Antonyms: Pass
7. Verb. Fail to get a passing grade. "Did I fail the test?"
8. Verb. Fall short in what is expected. "We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust"
9. Verb. Become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close. "A number of banks failed that year"
10. Verb. Prove insufficient. "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
11. Verb. Get worse. "Her health is declining"
Definition of Fail
1. 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.
2. v. t. To be wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
3. n. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
Definition of Fail
1. Verb. (intransitive) To be unsuccessful. ¹
2. Verb. (transitive) Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.) ¹
3. Verb. (transitive) To neglect. ¹
4. Verb. (intransitive of a machine, etc.) To cease to operate correctly. ¹
5. Verb. (transitive) To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert. ¹
6. Verb. (intransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits. ¹
7. Verb. (transitive) To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour. ¹
8. Noun. a failure, especially of a financial transaction ¹
9. Noun. a failing grade in an academic examination ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Fail
1. to be unsuccessful in an attempt [v -ED, -ING, -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Fail
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