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fail

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To fail is defined as to be unsuccessful at something, to not do something you should, or to tell someone they were unsuccessful at something.

(verb)

When you get only 1 question correct out of 100 on the test, this is an example of a time when you fail.
When you were supposed to take the garbage out and did not, this is an example of a time when you fail to take out the garbage.
When you are a teacher and you give a student a 20% on a test out of 100, this is an example of a time when you fail the student.

See fail in Webster's New World College Dictionary

intransitive verb

to be lacking or insufficient; fall short: the water supply is failing
to lose power or strength; weaken; die away
to stop operating or working: the brakes failed
to be deficient or negligent in an obligation, duty, or expectation; default
to be unsuccessful in obtaining a desired end; be unable to do or become; miss
to become bankrupt
Educ. to get a grade of failure; not pass

Origin: ME failen < OFr faillir, to fail, miss < L fallere, to deceive, disappoint < IE base *ĝhwel-, to bend, deviate > Sans hválati, (he) loses the way, errs, Gr phēloein, to deceive

transitive verb

to be useless or not helpful to; be inadequate for; disappoint
to leave; abandon: his courage failed him
to miss, neglect, or omit: used with an infinitive: he failed to go
Educ.
1. to give a grade of failure to (a pupil)
2. to get a grade of failure in (a subject)

noun

failure: now only in the phrase , without failing (to occur, do something, etc.)

Origin: ME faile < OFr faile < the v.

See fail in American Heritage Dictionary 4

verb failed, fail·ing, fails

verb, intransitive

To prove deficient or lacking; perform ineffectively or inadequately: failed to fulfill their promises; failed in their attempt to reach the summit.
To be unsuccessful: an experiment that failed.
To receive an academic grade below the acceptable minimum.
To prove insufficient in quantity or duration; give out: The water supply failed during the drought.
To decline, as in strength or effectiveness: The light began to fail.
To cease functioning properly: The engine failed.
To give way or be made otherwise useless as a result of excessive strain: The rusted girders failed and caused the bridge to collapse.
To become bankrupt or insolvent: Their business failed during the last recession.

verb, transitive

To disappoint or prove undependable to: Our sentries failed us.
To abandon; forsake: His strength failed him.
To omit to perform (an expected duty, for example): “We must . . . hold . . . those horrors up to the light of justice. Otherwise we would fail our inescapable obligation to the victims of Nazism: to remember” (Anthony Lewis).
To leave undone; neglect: failed to wash the dishes.
a. To receive an academic grade below the acceptable minimum in (a course, for example): failed algebra twice.
b. To give such a grade of failure to (a student): failed me in algebra.

noun

Failure to deliver securities to a purchaser within a specified time.
Failure to receive the proceeds of a transaction, as in the sale of stock or securities, by a specified date.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English failen

Origin: , from Old French faillir

Origin: , from Vulgar Latin *fallīre

Origin: , variant of Latin fallere, to deceive

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