I. ˈfāl, esp before pause or consonant -āəl verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English faillen, failen, from Old French faillir, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin fallire, alteration of Latin fallere to deceive, be concealed from, escape observation, be ignorant of; probably akin to Greek phēlos deceitful, Sanskrit hruṇāti he gets lost, Old Slavic zŭlŭ bad, evil
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to undergo loss of vigor or activity : lose strength, power, vitality, or intensity : become enfeebled
his health failed and he retired young
the breeze failed and we were becalmed
the warm sun is failing … the pale flowers are dying — P.B.Shelley
the never failing river of student life — J.B.Conant
b. : to diminish in amount or quantity to a point of inadequacy : dwindle away : run short
the supplies of the defenders failed
c. : to cease to be encountered : be or become nonexistent
should the rains fail … the numbers of the game depreciate — James Stevenson-Hamilton
d. : to become extinct : die away
until our family line fails
e. : to be inadequate
time fails for recounting all his exploits
f. : to lose strength and control rapidly as a prelude to dying
the old man was failing and they decided to spare him the shock of the news
g. : to grow dim and difficult or impossible to perceive
the radio signals failed
the landward marks have failed — Rudyard Kipling
h. : to weaken and come to function very imperfectly
his eyesight was failing
the senile old woman's mind was failing
i. : to stop functioning
the patient's heart failed
one of the plane's engines failed
j. : to fall away from an expected or hoped-for yield
the peach crop failed
2.
a. : to miss attainment : fall short of achievement or realization — usually used with of
this chronicle … may fail of effect — Clifton Fadiman
the senator failed of reelection
music that fails of beauty
b. : to miss success in some effort : become forced to leave incomplete an attempt or enterprise — used with infinitive
he failed to finish the race
when a rainmaker fails to produce rain — J.G.Frazer
c. : to neglect to do something : leave something undone : be found wanting in not doing something — used with infinitive
the janitor had failed to call the fire department
had criminally failed to latch the street door — Arnold Bennett
if our civilization has failed to enable us to look further than our own egoistic ends — Havelock Ellis
d. : to miss success : be unavailing : miscarry — used of things, devices, and arrangements
the commission failed to settle the refugee question
the jack failed to raise the truck
e. : to end without success : miss successful achievement of a result
I failed, yet still I clung to the hope — Mary W. Shelley
the neurotic personality wishes to fail
f. : to leave some possible or expected action unperformed or some condition unachieved
he usually fails to remember his dreams
they could hardly fail to meet
explosive statements that rarely failed to startle his hearers — D.D.Eisenhower
meals that fail to satisfy
a … section that the continental glacier failed to cover — American Guide Series: Minnesota
a rise in prices that failed to develop
3.
a. : to be deficient or inadequate : lack
Aristophanes could ridicule all the literary Homeric gods but must never fail in respect to Athena — Gilbert Murray
b. : to prove inadequate, deficient, or unavailing on trial : give away or break down
the attack failed
the supporting brace failed
c. : to become unable to meet financial engagements ; especially : to become bankrupt or insolvent
banks were failing, unemployment was soaring — N.M.Clark
d. : to be deficient or unable to meet a test or standard of attainment
he failed in arithmetic
a failing term paper
4. obsolete : to err in judgment : be in error
transitive verb
1. : to disappoint the expectations or trust of : be found wanting at the time of need of (a person) : miss performing expected or hoped-for service, assistance, or function for
his allies failed him when the battle started
if a man's English subordinates fail him in India, he comes to a hard time indeed — Rudyard Kipling
she reached for a chair and sat down suddenly, as if her legs had failed her — Ellen Glasgow
for once his ready wit failed him
2. : to be deficient in : lack
our youth … never failed an invincible courage — Douglas MacArthur
3. obsolete : to leave undone or unperformed
his morning prayer, which he never failed
4. archaic : to disappoint or leave unfulfilled (a trust, hope, or expectation)
the book fails the reader's hopes
5.
a. : to prove so deficient in knowledge or skill as not to pass (as a test or course)
she failed her driving test
he failed chemistry
b. : to rate (as a pupil) as deficient in achievement for not meeting the standard required for passing
the teacher failed only his two worst students
II. noun
Etymology: Middle English faille, faile, from Old French faille, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin fallia, from Late Latin fallire
1.
a. obsolete : failure to occur
b. : omission of doing or performing something — usually used in the phrase without fail
2. obsolete : want of success
III. noun
: a failure (as by a security dealer) to deliver or receive securities within a prescribed period after a purchase or sale