fail (f āl)
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v. failed, fail·ing, fails v.intr.1. To prove deficient or lacking; perform ineffectively or inadequately: failed to fulfill their promises; failed in their attempt to reach the summit. 2. a. To be unsuccessful: an experiment that failed. b. To be unsuccessful in being acted upon: an idea that failed to be accepted by the board. 3. To receive an academic grade below the acceptable minimum. 4. To prove insufficient in quantity or duration; give out: The water supply failed during the drought. 5. To decline, as in strength or effectiveness: The light began to fail. 6. To cease functioning properly: The engine failed. 7. To give way or be made otherwise useless as a result of excessive strain: The rusted girders failed and caused the bridge to collapse. 8. To become bankrupt or insolvent: Their business failed during the last recession. v.tr.1. To disappoint or prove undependable to: Our sentries failed us. 2. To abandon; forsake: His strength failed him. 3. To omit to perform (an expected duty, for example): We must not fail our obligation to the earthquake victims. 4. To leave undone; neglect: failed to wash the dishes. 5. a. To receive an academic grade below the acceptable minimum in (a course, for example): failed algebra twice. b. To give such a grade of failure to (a student): failed me in algebra. 6. To be detected by (a drug test) as having used a banned substance. n.1. A failing grade: The student received a fail on the final paper. 2. Informal Something that does not achieve the desired result; a failure: My first attempt to make flourless cookies was a big fail. Idiom: without fail1. With no chance of failure: Be here at noon without fail. 2. Every single time: "Always we get a good rain on Labor Day, without fail—like clockwork" (Rick Bass)."Whenever he returned to his hut, almost without fail some money was missing from the basket" (Paul Theroux).
[Middle English failen, from Old French faillir, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, variant of Latin fallere, to deceive.] |