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fail

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fail, fáil, fàil, and Fäil

English

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BERJAYA
A goalkeeper failing to stop the ball from entering the goal

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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”).

    Alternative forms

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    Verb

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    fail (third-person singular simple present fails, present participle failing, simple past and past participle failed)

    1. (intransitive) To be unsuccessful.
      Throughout my life, I have always failed.
      • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Englande”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC, page 249, column 1:
        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.
      • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
        As the world’s drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
    2. (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.
    3. (transitive) To neglect.
      The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
      • 1960 December, B. Perren, “The role of the Great Central—present and future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 765:
        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.
    4. (intransitive) Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
      After running five minutes, the engine failed.
      • 2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33:
        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.
    5. (transitive) 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.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 2:4:
        There shall not fail thee a man on the throne.
      • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. II, Gospel of Mammonism”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book III (The Modern Worker):
        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 […]
      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
        That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.
      • 2025 August 15, Gooseworx, “They All Get Guns” (18:32 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 6, spoken by Ragatha (Amanda Hufford):
        I think... I might've... failed Pomni. Just like I failed Jax. Try too hard to get on their good side, and then I just... end up pushing them away! And then they end up hating me!
    6. (ambitransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
      I failed English last year.
    7. (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.
    8. (transitive, obsolete) To miss attaining; to lose.
    9. 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.
    10. (archaic) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
      • 1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful:
        If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not to be attributed to their size.
    11. (archaic) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
        When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.
    12. (archaic) To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
      A sick man fails.
    13. (obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.
    14. (obsolete) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
        Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if I fail not.
    15. (intransitive) 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.
      • 1862, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret:
        "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."
    Usage notes
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    Conjugation
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    Conjugation of fail
    infinitive (to) fail
    present tense past tense
    1st-person singular fail failed
    2nd-person singular fail, failest† failed, failedst†
    3rd-person singular fails, faileth† failed
    plural fail
    subjunctive fail failed
    imperative fail —
    participles failing failed

    † Archaic or obsolete.

    Synonyms
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    Antonyms
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    • (antonym(s) of “to be unsuccessful”): succeed
    Derived terms
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    Descendants
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    Translations
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    Noun

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    fail (countable and uncountable, plural fails)

    1. A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
    2. A failing grade in an academic examination.
    3. (slang, US) A failure (something incapable of success).
    4. (uncountable, slang) Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
      The project was full of fail.
    Derived terms
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    Translations
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    Adjective

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    fail (comparative more fail, superlative most fail)

    1. (slang, US) Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.

    Etymology 2

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    Unknown. Compare Scottish Gaelic fàl (“hedge”), Scots faill (“turf”). Attested from the 16th century.[1]

    Alternative forms

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    Noun

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    fail (plural fails)

    1. A piece of turf cut from grassland.
    Derived terms
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    References

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    1. ^ fail, n.1, in James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Fail”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

    Anagrams

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    Indonesian

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    Borrowed from English file, from Old French fil (“thread”), from Latin filum (“thread”). Compare to Malay fail.

    Noun

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    fail (plural fail-fail)

    1. (uncommon) file
      1. a collection of papers collated and archived together
        Synonyms: berkas, dokumen, sahifah
      2. (computing) an aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name
        Synonym: berkas
    2. (uncommon) file rack
      Synonym: rak berkas
    Hyponyms
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    Derived terms
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    Etymology 2

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    Borrowed from Arabic فَاعِل (fāʕil, “subject, agent”).

    Noun

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    fail (plural fail-fail)

    1. (grammar) doer, subject
      Synonyms: pelaku, subjek

    Further reading

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    Irish

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    Etymology

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    From Old Irish foil, from Proto-Celtic *wali-, from Proto-Indo-European *wel-. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “something twisted”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    fail f (genitive singular faile, nominative plural faileanna)

    1. ring
    2. bracelet
    3. wreath
    4. sty

    Declension

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    Declension of fail (second declension)
    bare forms
    singular plural
    nominative fail faileanna
    vocative a fhail a fhaileanna
    genitive faile faileanna
    dative fail faileanna
    forms with the definite article
    singular plural
    nominative an fhail na faileanna
    genitive na faile na bhfaileanna
    dative leis an bhfail
    don fhail     		leis na faileanna

    Mutation

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    Mutated forms of fail
    radical lenition eclipsis
    fail fhail bhfail

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Malay

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    Etymology

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    From English file.

    Noun

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    fail (plural fail-fail)

    1. file (collection of papers)
    2. information or a document about someone, something etc.
    3. (computing) file (aggregation of data on a storage device)

    Derived terms

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    Verb

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    fail (used in the form memfailkan)

    1. file (commit papers)
    2. file (to archive)
    3. (computing) file (store computer data)
    4. (with untuk) file (make a formal request)

    Old Irish

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    Verb

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    1. alternative form of fil

    Turkish

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    Etymology

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    Inherited from Ottoman Turkish فاعل (fā'il),[1][2] from Arabic فَاعِل (fāʕil), active participle of فَعَلَ (faʕala, “to do, to affect”).[3]

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /faːˈil/
    • Hyphenation: fa‧il

    Noun

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    fail (definite accusative faili, plural failler)

    1. (grammar, archaic) subject
      Synonym: özne
    2. (archaic) agent, doer
    3. (law) actor, perpetrator

    Declension

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    Declension of fail
    singular plural
    nominative fail failler
    definite accusative faili failleri
    dative faile faillere
    locative failde faillerde
    ablative failden faillerden
    genitive failin faillerin
    Possessive forms
    nominative
    singular plural
    1st singular failim faillerim
    2nd singular failin faillerin
    3rd singular faili failleri
    1st plural failimiz faillerimiz
    2nd plural failiniz failleriniz
    3rd plural failleri failleri
    definite accusative
    singular plural
    1st singular failimi faillerimi
    2nd singular failini faillerini
    3rd singular failini faillerini
    1st plural failimizi faillerimizi
    2nd plural failinizi faillerinizi
    3rd plural faillerini faillerini
    dative
    singular plural
    1st singular failime faillerime
    2nd singular failine faillerine
    3rd singular failine faillerine
    1st plural failimize faillerimize
    2nd plural failinize faillerinize
    3rd plural faillerine faillerine
    locative
    singular plural
    1st singular failimde faillerimde
    2nd singular failinde faillerinde
    3rd singular failinde faillerinde
    1st plural failimizde faillerimizde
    2nd plural failinizde faillerinizde
    3rd plural faillerinde faillerinde
    ablative
    singular plural
    1st singular failimden faillerimden
    2nd singular failinden faillerinden
    3rd singular failinden faillerinden
    1st plural failimizden faillerimizden
    2nd plural failinizden faillerinizden
    3rd plural faillerinden faillerinden
    genitive
    singular plural
    1st singular failimin faillerimin
    2nd singular failinin faillerinin
    3rd singular failinin faillerinin
    1st plural failimizin faillerimizin
    2nd plural failinizin faillerinizin
    3rd plural faillerinin faillerinin

    Derived terms

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    References

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    1. ^ Redhouse, James W. (1890), “فاعل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1361
    2. ^ Kélékian, Diran (1911), “فاعل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 883
    3. ^ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “fail”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

    Further reading

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    • “fail”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
    • Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “fail”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 2, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1540
    • Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013), The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN
    Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=fail&oldid=91420565"