fail
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Middle English failen, from Anglo-Norman faillir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- (“to lie, deceive”). Compare Dutch feilen, falen (“to fail, miss”), German fehlen (“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish feile (“to fail, err”), Swedish fela (“to fail, be wanting, do wrong”), Icelandic feila (“to fail”).
Pronunciation [edit]
Verb [edit]
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.
Usage notes [edit]
- This is a catenative verb which takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
Synonyms [edit]
- (to be unsuccessful): fall on one's face
Antonyms [edit]
- (to be unsuccessful): succeed
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
be unsuccessful
|
|
not achieve a goal
be negligent
cease to operate
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.
Noun [edit]
fail (plural fails)
- (slang) A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)
- (slang, US) A failure (something incapable of success)
- A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
- A failing grade in an academic examination.
Adjective [edit]
fail (comparative more fail, superlative most fail)
- (slang, US) That is a failure.
References [edit]
- 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
Anagrams [edit]
Irish [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: [fˠalʲ]
Etymology [edit]
From Old Irish foil, from Proto-Celtic *vali-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel-. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (helix, “something twisted”).
Noun [edit]
fail f (genitive faile, nominative plural faileanna)
Declension [edit]
Declension of fail
Second declension
|
Bare forms
|
Forms with the definite article
|
Mutation [edit]
| 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. |
||
Malay [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From English file.
Noun [edit]
fail (plural fail-fail)
- file (collection of papers)
- information or a document about someone, something etc.
- (computing) file (aggregation of data on a storage device)
Derived terms [edit]
- pemfailan (the process of filing)
- berfail-fail (a lot of files)
Verb [edit]
fail (used in the form memfailkan)
- file (commit papers)
- file (to archive)
- (computing) file (store computer data)
- {{context|with untuk file (make a formal request)
Old Irish [edit]
Verb [edit]
fail
- Alternative form of fil.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English verbs
- English nouns
- English slang
- American English
- English adjectives
- 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
- Malay terms derived from English
- Malay nouns
- ms:Computing
- Malay verbs
- Old Irish verb forms
- Old Irish alternative forms
