Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Fail   /feɪl/   Listen
verb
Fail  v. t.  
1.
To be wanting to; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert. "There shall not fail thee a man on the throne."
2.
To miss of attaining; to lose. (R.) "Though that seat of earthly bliss be failed."



Fail  v. i.  (past & past part. failed; pres. part. failing)  
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. "As the waters fail from the sea." "Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign."
2.
To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of. "If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size."
3.
To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink. "When earnestly they seek Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail."
4.
To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
5.
To perish; to die; used of a person. (Obs.) "Had the king in his last sickness failed."
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. "Take heed now that ye fail not to do this." "Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale."
7.
To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired; to be baffled or frusrated. "Our envious foe hath failed."
8.
To err in judgment; to be mistaken. "Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not."
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.



noun
Fail  n.  
1.
Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail. "His highness' fail of issue."
2.
Death; decease. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Fail" Quotes from Famous Books



... somewhat distinguished also by those qualities which entitle them to it, and which promise a sincere and scrupulous regard to the nature of their engagements. In the second place, they will enter into the public service under circumstances which cannot fail to produce a temporary affection at least to their constituents. There is in every breast a sensibility to marks of honor, of favor, of esteem, and of confidence, which, apart from all considerations of interest, is some pledge for grateful and benevolent returns. ...
— The Federalist Papers

... Lord Lossiemouth after all? Don't speak. I want to place the situation dispassionately before you. I have thought it carefully over. You are an extremely attractive woman, Magdalen. I don't know what it is about you, I fail to analyse it, but one becomes attached to you. You can make even a home pleasant. And if a man once cared for you it is improbable that he would cease to care just because you are no longer young. I take my stand on the basic fact that there certainly has been ...
— Prisoners - Fast Bound In Misery And Iron • Mary Cholmondeley

... armoury, and the badge of his clan in gold, with rubies and amethysts for the bells of the heather, glowed on his bonnet. And Malcolm's guests, as long as Duncan continued able to fill the bag, had to endure as best they might, between each course of every dinner without fail, two or three minutes of uproar and outcry from the treble throat of the powerful Lossie pipes. By his own desire, the piper had a chair and small table set for him behind and to the right of his chief, as he called him; there he ate ...
— The Marquis of Lossie • George MacDonald

... Scaife's eyes, half thought that the speaker wished that John would fail—that he grudged him a triumph. None the less, the first verse, sung feebly, with wrong phrasing and imperfect articulation, revealed the quality of the boy's voice; and this quality Desmond recognized, as he would have recognized a fine painting or a bit of perfect porcelain. ...
— The Hill - A Romance of Friendship • Horace Annesley Vachell

... braver—more like his old self. He carried himself with a kind of timid pride, as though he knew himself to be of a greater value than he was likely to be reckoned at by others; almost as though he were confident that he was possessed of a claim to merit which, once stated, could not fail to be recognised. At the same time, there was a distressful hesitancy in his manner, not unnatural under the circumstances, of a man not sure of his acceptability. He seemed forever on the point of declaring himself, and forever thinking better of his decision—postponing his declaration to ...
— Murder Point - A Tale of Keewatin • Coningsby Dawson


More quotes...



Copyright © 2025 Dictionary One.com