fail
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French faillir, from Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Verb
fail (third-person singular simple present fails, present participle failing, simple past and past participle failed)
- (intransitive) To be unsuccessful.
- Throughout my life, I have always failed.
- (transitive) Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
- The truck failed to start.
- (transitive) To neglect.
- The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
- (intransitive, of a machine, etc.) To cease to operate correctly.
- After running five minutes, the engine failed.
- (transitive) To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism
- 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 […]
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 3, ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism
- (intransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
- I failed in English last year.
- (transitive) 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.
[edit] Usage notes
- This is a catenative verb which takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
[edit] Synonyms
- (to be unsuccessful): fall on one's face
[edit] Antonyms
- (to be unsuccessful): succeed
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
be unsuccessful
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not achieve a goal
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be negligent
cease to operate
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cause to fail
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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[edit] Noun
fail (plural fails)
- a failure, especially of a financial transaction
- a failing grade in an academic examination
[edit] References
- fail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- fail in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- fail at OneLook Dictionary Search
[edit] Anagrams
[edit] Irish
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA: [fˠalʲ]
[edit] Etymology
From Old Irish foil, from Proto-Celtic *vali-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel-. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (helix, “something twisted”).
[edit] Noun
fail f.
[edit] Declension
- Second declension
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Bare forms
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Forms with the definite article
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| Irish mutation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis | |
| fail | fhail | bhfail | |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
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Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English verbs
- English nouns
- English control verbs
- English ergative verbs
- Irish terms derived from Old Irish
- Irish terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Irish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Irish nouns
