fall short

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

fall short (third-person singular simple present falls short, present participle falling short, simple past fell short, past participle fallen short)

1. (idiomatic) to be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient
   • 2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Sweden 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     They have fallen short on so many occasions that an England team who rises to the occasion are worthy of the highest praise.

   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 245c.

     But if being is not a whole through being affected by that affection, and there is such a thing as the whole itself, if follows that being falls short of itself.

Usage notes

Usually used with preposition of.

Derived terms

• short-fall, shortfall
• fall short of

Translations

to be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient

• French: être en deçà de
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὑστερέω (husteréō)

• Hungarian: elmarad (hu) (…az elvárásoktól), alatta marad (…az elvárásoknak), elégtelennek bizonyul, nem éri el, nem felel meg
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: dēsum (la)
• Maori: hara
• Persian: کم آوردن (kam āvardan)
• Russian: быть (ru) (bytʹ) недостаточным (ru) (nedostatočnym)

See also

• fall short to

Anagrams

• short-fall, shortfall