FAILING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Failing

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/fˈeɪlɪŋ/ 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

Failing n.

1.

A failing short; a becoming deficient; failure; deficiency; imperfection; weakness; lapse; fault; infirmity; as, a mental failing. "And ever in her mind she cast about For that unnoticed failing in herself."

2.

The act of becoming insolvent of bankrupt.

Synonyms: See Fault.

See images of 'Failing'

Etymology of 'Failing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Failing" Quotes from Famous Books

... putting on a black coat with a very long waist, which had been made by a provincial tailor, and a shabby top-hat which instantly gave his face a wooden expression, took his seat in the phaeton. He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten his gloves, and called out to the "never-failing" Pavel, who brought him a pair of newly-washed white kid ones, the fingers of which were so stretched at the tips that they looked like long biscuits. Solomin thrust the gloves into his pocket and gave the order to start. Then the footman jumped onto the box with an unnecessary amount ...

— Virgin Soil • Ivan S. Turgenev

... you had only seen more of her! My dear fellow, if I am an honest man; if I have passed without failing through the trials of my life and my profession; if I have placed my ideal beyond worldly success; in a word, if I am worth anything in heart or brain, it is to her I owe it. We never had been parted before; this is our first separation, and it is the final ...

— Serge Panine • Georges Ohnet

... fancied that little Polly was growing up to be a very charming woman. He had known her since her first visit and had always liked the child; this winter he had been interested in the success of her plans and had done what he could to help them, but he never thought of failing in love with Polly till that night. Then he began to feel that he had not fully appreciated his young friend; that she was such a bright and lovable girl, it was a pity she should not always be gay and pretty, and enjoy herself; that she would make a capital wife for somebody, and perhaps ...

— An Old-fashioned Girl • Louisa May Alcott

... suffered no loss, for the said bishop could have got a dispensation making him, for temporary conveniency, eligible to the exercise of his said right, and thus would she have kept all she had. Whereas, failing in her first duty, she hath by that failure failed in all; for whoso, clinging to a rope, severeth it above his hands, must fall; it being no defense to claim that the rest of the rope is sound, neither any deliverance from his peril, ...

— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... the almost insurmountable difficulties of amending many State constitutions for woman suffrage and made an earnest plea for the Federal Amendment. Senator Charles S. Thomas of Colorado, who for the past twenty-five years had been a consistent and never failing friend of woman suffrage, said in beginning: "I learned this lesson in my early manhood by reading the addresses of and listening to such advocates as Susan B. Anthony," and he summed up his strong speech by saying: "The matter is simply one of abstract and of concrete justice. We cannot preach ...

— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume V • Ida Husted Harper

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