fail
VerbSubstantivAdjektivSubstantivhäufig in Dialogen
- //feɪl//
To be unsuccessful.
Verb
- 1
To be unsuccessful.
Throughout my life, I have always failed.
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 not fayle to execute all kinde of crueltie in the ſlaughter of the whole nation.
As the world’s drug habit shows, governments are failing 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
Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
The truck failed to start.
- 3
To neglect.
The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
Those who have advocated the closure of the G.C. have so far failed to say by which alternative route this North-to-West traffic could be carried.
- 4
Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
After running five minutes, the engine failed.
We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.
- 5
To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations.
I've failed my parents many times growing up.
There shall not fail thee a man on the throne.
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 heart failed her: she sank down in typhus-fever […]
I think... I might've... failed Pomni. Just like I failed Jax. Try too hard to get on their good side, and then I just... end up pushing them away! And then they end up hating me!
- 6
To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
I failed English last year.
- 7
To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
The professor failed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments.
- 8
veraltetTo miss attaining; to lose.
though that seat of earthly bliss be failed
- 9
To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
The crops failed last year.
as the waters fail from the sea
Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign.
- 10
altertümlichTo 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 to be attributed to their size.
- 11
altertümlichTo fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.
- 12
altertümlichTo deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
A sick man fails.
- 13
veraltetTo perish; to die; used of a person.
had the king in his last sickness failed
- 14
veraltetTo err in judgment; to be mistaken.
Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if I fail 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 become bankrupt or insolvent.
"But you cannot tell where she went on leaving here?" Robert asked, despondingly. "No, sir; missus says she believes the lady failed, and that she left sudden like, and didn't want her address to be known in the neighbourhood."
Herkunft
Etymology tree Classical Latin fallere Vulgar Latin *fallīre Old French falirbor. Middle English failen English fail Inherited from Middle English failen, borrowed from Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- (“to lie, deceive”) or Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”). Compare Alemannic German fääle (“to lack”), Cimbrian béelan, véelan (“to fail”), veln (“to be absent, missing”), Dutch falen, feilen (“to fail, miss”), German fallieren, fehlen (“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish fejle (“to fail, err”), Swedish fallera (“to fail, break, malfunction”), Spanish fallar (“to fail, miss”).
Substantiv
- 1
A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
- 2
A failing grade in an academic examination.
- 3
SlangA failure (something incapable of success).
- 4
SlangPoor quality; substandard workmanship.
The project was full of fail.
Adjektiv
- 1
SlangUnsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.
Substantiv
- 1
A piece of turf cut from grassland.
Herkunft
Unknown. Compare Scottish Gaelic fàl (“hedge”), Scots faill (“turf”). Attested from the 16th century.
Formen
- Plural
- fails
- Komparativ
- more fail
- Superlativ
- most fail
- Präteritum
- failed
- Partizip II
- failed
- Partizip I
- failing
- 3. Person Singular
- fails