fail

Meaning

1. To be unsuccessful.
2. Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
3. To neglect.
4. Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
5. To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations.
6. To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
7. To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
8. (obsolete) To miss attaining; to lose.
9. To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
10. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
11. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
12. To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
13. (obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.
14. (obsolete) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
15. 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.

lose

miscarry

be unsuccessful

be defeated

flush it

make an error

be frustrated

not succeed

sink down

leave someone in the lurch

be beaten

become bankrupt

be destroyed

be on the decline

be ruined

be thwarted

be tired

be wanting

come short

come to grief

double cross

drop through

fall to the ground

glance off

go astray

go broke

go bust

not enough

be unable

commit a sin

screw the pooch

unable to do

zanedbávat

come to nought

be complete

be badly made

overreach oneself

rejectee

be overcome

unsuccess

lack of success

be otherwise

be unfortunate

come to failure

miss an opportunity

return with empty hands

prove fruitless

hanging-up

middle break

breaking-down

prove futile

below mark

become insolvent

disparage

fall short of

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/feɪl/

From Middle English failen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman faillir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- (“to lie, deceive”) or Proto-Indo-European *sgʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”). Compare Dutch feilen, falen (“to fail, miss”), German fehlen (“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish fejle (“to fail, err”), Swedish fela (“to fail, be wanting, do wrong”), Icelandic feila (“to fail”), Spanish fallar (“to fail, miss”).