fail
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To not succeed or to be lacking in something important
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
faylIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfeɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Be unsuccessful
“Where do today's public schools fail?”
transitive
To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations.
To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
transitive
To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
Prove insufficient
“The water supply for the town failed after a long drought.”
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.
“I fail to understand your motives.”
noun
A piece of turf cut from grassland.
uncountableslang
Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
A failing grade in an academic examination.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Unsuccessfulverb
“Where do today's public schools fail?”
Proveverb
“The water supply for the town failed after a long drought.”
Becomeverb
“I fail to understand your motives.”
More ways to use fail
- “She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law.”verb
- “The water supply for the town failed after a long drought.”verb
- “I fail to understand your motives.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A flaw or weak point.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A mechanism capable of returning to a safe state in case there is a failure or malfunction.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
An act that fails.
Equipment failure resulting when the supply of power fails.
Brakes fail to stop a vehicle.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: be unsuccessful
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.