fail

verb

not achieve a desired goal
give failing grade
not succeed or be let down

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /feɪl/ / /fel/ / /fɛl/

adj

Etymology: 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”).

Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.

name

Etymology: * As a Scottish and Irish surname, shortened from McPhail. * As a Manx surname, variant of Fayle. * As a south German surname, from the adjective feil (“for sale”).

A surname.

noun

Etymology: Unknown. Compare Scottish Gaelic fàl (“hedge”), Scots faill (“turf”). Attested from the 16th century.

A piece of turf cut from grassland.

verb

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.”
Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
“The truck failed to start.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
“I failed English last year.”
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.”
To miss attaining; to lose.
“though that seat of earthly bliss be failed”
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”
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 to be attributed to their size.”
To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
“When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.”
To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
“A sick man fails.”
To perish; to die; used of a person.
“had the king in his last sickness failed”
To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
“Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if I fail not.”
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."”