fail

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be unsuccessful.
2. (transitive) Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
3. (transitive) To neglect.
4. (intransitive) Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
5. (transitive) To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations.
6. (ambitransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
7. (transitive) To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
8. (obsolete, transitive) 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. (archaic) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
11. (archaic) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
12. (archaic) 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.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
2. (countable, uncountable) A failing grade in an academic examination.
3. (US, countable, slang, uncountable) A failure (something incapable of success).
4. (slang, uncountable) Poor quality; substandard workmanship.

Adj

Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.

Noun

A piece of turf cut from grassland.

Synonyms

lose

miscarry

collapse

unsuccessful

neglect

miss

fall through

abort

flunk

blunder

go bankrupt

defeated

failure

fall

break down

go wrong

err

make a mistake

founder

flop

betray

decline

unable

break

give out

give way

be unsuccessful

die

💀

crash

lack

go down

bomb

💣

leave

desert

🏜️

fumble

flush it

defeat

wane

weaken

fold

be defeated

come to naught

decay

omit

abandon

come to nothing

conk out

lacking

go

go bad

Translations

échouer

fallire

scheitern

faillir

fallar

versagen

fracasar

mancare

bocciare

fallar

négliger

mislukken

deficio

rater

ausfallen

Pronounced as (IPA)

/feɪl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: failen

Cognate with Dutch: feilen

Cognate with German: fehlen

Cognate with Danish: fejle

Cognate with Swedish: fela

Cognate with Icelandic: feila

Cognate with Spanish: fallar

Cognate with Scottish Gaelic: fàl

Cognate with Scots: faill

In summary

Inherited from Middle English failen, borrowed from Old French falir, 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 Alemannic German fääle (“to lack”), Cimbrian béelan, véelan (“to fail”), veln (“to be absent, missing”), Dutch falen, feilen (“to fail, miss”), German fallieren, fehlen (“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish fejle (“to fail, err”), Swedish fallera (“to fail, break, malfunction”), Spanish fallar (“to fail, miss”).