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fail

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Fail,fáil,fàil,andFäil

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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A goalkeeper failing to stop the ball from entering the goal

Inherited fromMiddle Englishfailen, borrowed fromAnglo-Normanfaillir, fromVulgar Latin*fallire, alteration ofLatinfallere(“to deceive, disappoint”), fromProto-Indo-European*bʰāl-(“to lie, deceive”) orProto-Indo-European*sgʷʰh₂el-(“to stumble”).

CompareDutchfeilen,falen(“to fail, miss”),Germanfehlen(“to fail, miss, lack”),Danishfejle(“to fail, err”),Swedishfela(“to fail, be wanting, do wrong”),Icelandicfeila(“to fail”),Spanishfallar(“to fail, miss”).

Verb

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fail (third-person singular simple presentfails,present participlefailing,simple past and past participlefailed)

  1. (intransitive) To beunsuccessful.
    Throughout my life, I have alwaysfailed.
    • 1577,Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, inThe Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison,→OCLC,page249, column 1:
      If they ſhoulde gyue battayle it was to be doubted, leaſt through treaſon amõgſt themſelues, the armie ſhould be betrayed into the enimies hands, the which would notfayle to execute all kinde of crueltie in the ſlaughter of the whole nation.
    • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, inThe Economist, volume408, number8848:
      As the world’s drug habit shows, governments arefailing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
  2. (transitive) Not toachieve a particular statedgoal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
    The truckfailed to start.
  3. (transitive) Toneglect.
    The reportfails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
    • 1960 December, B. Perren, “The role of the Great Central—present and future”, inTrains Illustrated, page765:
      Those who have advocated the closure of the G.C. have so farfailed to say by which alternative route this North-to-West traffic could be carried.
  4. (intransitive)Of amachine, etc.: tocease tooperate correctly.
    After running five minutes, the enginefailed.
    • 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, inRAIL, number947, page33:
      We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting hadfailed when the tram overturned.
  5. (transitive) To bewanting to, to beinsufficient for, todisappoint, todesert; to disappoint one's expectations.
    I'vefailed my parents many times growing up.
    • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,1 Kings2:4:
      There shall notfail thee a man on the throne.
    • 1843 April,Thomas Carlyle, “ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism”, inPast and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.:Charles C[offin] Little andJames Brown, published1843,→OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):
      A poor Irish Widow […] went forth with her three children, bare of all resource, to solicit help from the Charitable Establishments of that City. At this Charitable Establishment and then at that she was refused; referred from one to the other, helped by none; — till she had exhausted them all; till her strength and heartfailed her: she sank down in typhus-fever […]
    • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:
      That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humblenessfailed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.
  6. (ambitransitive) To receive one or morenon-passinggrades inacademic pursuits.
    Ifailed English last year.
  7. (transitive) To give a student a non-passing grade in an academicendeavour.
    The professorfailed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments.
  8. (transitive, 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.
    The cropsfailed last year.
  10. (archaic) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used withof.
    • 1757,Edmund Burke,A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful:
      If ever theyfail of beauty, this failure is not to be attributed to their size.
  11. (archaic) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
    • 1667,John Milton, “Book VIII”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:
      When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin tofail.
  12. (archaic) To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
    A sick manfails.
  13. (obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.
  14. (obsolete) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
    • 1667,John Milton, “Book I”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:
      Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if Ifail not.
  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 becomebankrupt orinsolvent.
Usage notes
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Conjugation
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Conjugation offail
infinitive(to)fail
present tensepast tense
1st-personsingularfailfailed
2nd-personsingularfail,failest†failed,failedst†
3rd-personsingularfails,faileth†failed
pluralfail
subjunctivefailfailed
imperativefail—
participlesfailingfailed
Alternative forms
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Synonyms
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Antonyms
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  • (antonym(s) of“to be unsuccessful”):succeed
Derived terms
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Related terms
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Descendants
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Translations
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intransitive: be unsuccessful
transitive: not achieve a stated goal
be negligent
cease to operate
to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert
to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits
cause to fail
to give a student a non-passing grade

Noun

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fail (countable anduncountable,pluralfails)

  1. Afailure, especially of afinancialtransaction(a termination of an action).
  2. A failinggrade in anacademicexamination.
  3. (slang, US) Afailure(something incapable of success).
  4. (uncountable, slang) Poorquality; substandard workmanship.
    The project was full offail.
Derived terms
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Adjective

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fail (comparativemorefail,superlativemostfail)

  1. (slang, US) Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.

Etymology 2

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Unknown. CompareScottish Gaelicfàl(“hedge”),Scotsfaill(“turf”). Attested from the 16th century.[1]

Alternative forms

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Noun

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fail (pluralfails)

  1. A piece of turf cut from grassland.
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^fail, n.1, inJames A. H. Murrayet al., editors (1884–1928), “Fail”, inA New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London:Clarendon Press,→OCLC.

Anagrams

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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FromEnglishfile, fromOld Frenchfil(“thread”), fromLatinfilum(“thread”). Compare toMalayfail.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈfaɪl]
  • Hyphenation:fa‧il

Noun

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fail

  1. file,
    1. a collection of papers collated and archived together
      Synonyms:berkas,dokumen
    2. (computing) an aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name
  2. filerack
    Synonym:rak berkas

Further reading

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Irish

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Etymology

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FromOld Irishfoil, fromProto-Celtic*wali-, fromProto-Indo-European*wel-. Cognates includeAncient Greekἕλιξ(hélix,“something twisted”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fail f (genitive singularfaile,nominative pluralfaileanna)

  1. ring
  2. bracelet
  3. wreath
  4. sty

Declension

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Declension offail (second declension)

Mutation

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Mutated forms offail
radicallenitioneclipsis
failfhailbhfail

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Malay

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Etymology

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FromEnglishfile.

Noun

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fail (pluralfail-fail)

  1. file(collection of papers)
  2. information or adocument about someone, something etc.
  3. (computing)file(aggregation of data on a storage device)

Derived terms

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Verb

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fail (used in the formmemfailkan)

  1. file(commit papers)
  2. file(to archive)
  3. (computing)file(store computer data)
  4. (withuntuk)file(make a formal request)

Old Irish

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Verb

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fail

  1. Alternative form offil

Turkish

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Etymology

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Inherited fromOttoman Turkishفاعل(fā'il),[1][2] fromArabicفَاعِل(fāʕil),active participle ofفَعَلَ(faʕala,“to do, to affect”).[3]

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /faːˈil/
  • Hyphenation:fa‧il

Noun

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fail (definite accusativefaili,pluralfailler)

  1. (grammar, archaic)subject
    Synonym:özne
  2. (archaic)agent,doer
  3. (law)actor,perpetrator

Declension

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Declension offail
singularplural
nominativefailfailler
definite accusativefailifailleri
dativefailefaillere
locativefaildefaillerde
ablativefaildenfaillerden
genitivefailinfaillerin
Possessive forms
nominative
singularplural
1st singularfailimfaillerim
2nd singularfailinfaillerin
3rd singularfailifailleri
1st pluralfailimizfaillerimiz
2nd pluralfailinizfailleriniz
3rd pluralfaillerifailleri
definite accusative
singularplural
1st singularfailimifaillerimi
2nd singularfailinifaillerini
3rd singularfailinifaillerini
1st pluralfailimizifaillerimizi
2nd pluralfailinizifaillerinizi
3rd pluralfaillerinifaillerini
dative
singularplural
1st singularfailimefaillerime
2nd singularfailinefaillerine
3rd singularfailinefaillerine
1st pluralfailimizefaillerimize
2nd pluralfailinizefaillerinize
3rd pluralfaillerinefaillerine
locative
singularplural
1st singularfailimdefaillerimde
2nd singularfailindefaillerinde
3rd singularfailindefaillerinde
1st pluralfailimizdefaillerimizde
2nd pluralfailinizdefaillerinizde
3rd pluralfaillerindefaillerinde
ablative
singularplural
1st singularfailimdenfaillerimden
2nd singularfailindenfaillerinden
3rd singularfailindenfaillerinden
1st pluralfailimizdenfaillerimizden
2nd pluralfailinizdenfaillerinizden
3rd pluralfaillerindenfaillerinden
genitive
singularplural
1st singularfailiminfaillerimin
2nd singularfailininfaillerinin
3rd singularfailininfaillerinin
1st pluralfailimizinfaillerimizin
2nd pluralfailinizinfaillerinizin
3rd pluralfaillerininfaillerinin

Derived terms

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Related terms

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References

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  1. ^Redhouse, James W. (1890) “فاعل”, inA Turkish and English Lexicon‎[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian,page1361
  2. ^Kélékian, Diran (1911) “فاعل”, inDictionnaire turc-français‎[2], Constantinople: Mihran,page883
  3. ^Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “fail”, inNişanyan Sözlük

Further reading

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