'Fail' definitions:
Definition of 'fail'
(from WordNet)
verb
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" [syn: fail, neglect]
verb
Be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably" [syn: fail, go wrong, miscarry] [ant: bring home the bacon, come through, deliver the goods, succeed, win]
verb
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" [syn: fail, betray]
verb
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" [syn: fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down]
verb
Be unable; "I fail to understand your motives" [ant: bring off, carry off, manage, negociate, pull off]
verb
Judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students" [ant: pass]
verb
Fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?" [syn: fail, flunk, bomb, flush it] [ant: make it, pass]
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"
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"
verb
Prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought" [syn: fail, run out, give out]
verb
Get worse; "Her health is declining"
Definition of 'Fail'
From: GCIDE
Definition of 'Fail'
From: GCIDE
- Fail \Fail\ (f[=a]l) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Failed (f[=a]ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Failing.] [F. failir, fr. L. fallere, falsum, to deceive, akin to E. fall. See Fail, and cf. Fallacy, False, Fault.]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- As the waters fail from the sea. --Job xiv. 11. [1913 Webster]
- Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of. [1913 Webster]
- If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size. --Berke. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink. [1913 Webster]
- When earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 4. To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails. [1913 Webster]
- 5. To perish; to die; -- used of a person. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Had the king in his last sickness failed. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. --Ezra iv. 22. [1913 Webster]
- Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 7. To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired; to be baffled or frusrated. [1913 Webster]
- Our envious foe hath failed. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 8. To err in judgment; to be mistaken. [1913 Webster]
- Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 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; as, many credit unions failed in the late 1980's. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Fail'
From: GCIDE
- Fail \Fail\, v. t.
- 1. To be wanting to; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert. [1913 Webster]
- There shall not fail thee a man on the throne. --1 Kings ii. 4. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To miss of attaining; to lose. [R.] [1913 Webster]
- Though that seat of earthly bliss be failed. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'fail'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abandon,
- abort,
- age,
- bankrupt,
- be a gas,
- be a hit,
- be caught napping,
- be found wanting,
- be inferior,
- be insufficient,
- be neglectful,
- be negligent,
- be ruined,
- be unfaithful,
- be unsuccessful,
- become insolvent,
- bill,
- bomb,
- break,
- break faith,
- bust,
- cave in,
- cheat the undertaker,
- close down,
- close up,
- collapse,
- come apart,
- come short,
- come to grief,
- come unstuck,
- conk out,
- crash,
- crumble,
- decay,
- decline,
- decrease,
- default,
- deplete,
- desert,
- deteriorate,
- die,
- diminish,
- disappear,
- disappoint,
- disintegrate,
- disregard,
- dodder,
- drain,
- dramatize,
- droop,
- drop,
- dwindle,
- ebb,
- exhaust,
- fade,
- fail of,
- fail of success,
- faint,
- fall,
- fall away,
- fall flat,
- fall off,
- fall short,
- fall shy,
- fall through,
- falter,
- feature,
- fizzle out,
- flag,
- flop,
- flunk,
- flunk out,
- fold,
- fold up,
- follow,
- forsake,
- founder,
- get along,
- get on,
- give out,
- give way,
- gloss over,
- go back on,
- go bankrupt,
- go broke,
- go down,
- go downhill,
- go into receivership,
- go off,
- go out,
- go soft,
- go to pieces,
- go to pot,
- go to ruin,
- go under,
- go up,
- go wrong,
- grow old,
- gutter,
- have nothing on,
- headline,
- hit a slump,
- hit rock bottom,
- hit the skids,
- ignore,
- impoverish,
- jade,
- kick the beam,
- labor in vain,
- lack,
- lag,
- languish,
- lapse,
- leave undone,
- lessen,
- let down,
- let go,
- let ride,
- let slide,
- let slip,
- lose,
- lose ground,
- lose sight of,
- lose strength,
- lose track of,
- make a hit,
- melodramatize,
- miscarry,
- misfire,
- miss,
- mount,
- neglect,
- nod,
- not answer,
- not approach,
- not care for,
- not come near,
- not come off,
- not compare,
- not get involved,
- not hack it,
- not heed,
- not make it,
- not make out,
- not measure up,
- not pass,
- not qualify,
- not stretch,
- not suffice,
- not think,
- not work,
- open,
- open a show,
- overlook,
- pass over,
- pass the buck,
- peak,
- peg out,
- peter out,
- pine,
- play second fiddle,
- poop out,
- premiere,
- present,
- preview,
- produce,
- put on,
- rank under,
- reach the depths,
- run aground,
- run down,
- run out,
- run short,
- scenarize,
- serve,
- set the stage,
- shake,
- shift the blame,
- shift the responsibility,
- short,
- shrink,
- shrivel,
- shut down,
- sink,
- sleep,
- slide,
- slight,
- slip,
- slump,
- spin,
- stage,
- star,
- stop short,
- subserve,
- subside,
- succeed,
- take for granted,
- theatricalize,
- totter,
- touch bottom,
- try out,
- turn gray,
- turn white,
- wane,
- want,
- wash out,
- waste,
- waste away,
- weaken,
- wear away,
- wear thin,
- wilt,
- wither,
- wither away,
- wizen,
- worsen,
- wrinkle,
- yield