# fail
## English
### Alternative forms

* faile (obsolete)

### Pronunciation

* enPR: fāl, IPA: /feɪl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪl

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English failen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman faillir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- (“to lie, deceive”) or Proto-Indo-European *sgʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”).
Compare Dutch feilen, falen (“to fail, miss”), German fehlen (“to fail, miss, lack”), Danish fejle (“to fail, err”), Swedish fela (“to fail, be wanting, do wrong”), Icelandic feila (“to fail”), Spanish fallar (“to fail, miss”).

#### 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.
** 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.
* (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.
** 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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (ambitransitive) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
    I failed 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.
* (transitive, obsolete) To miss attaining; to lose.
** 1671, John Milton, “The Fourth Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:though that seat of earthly bliss be failed
* 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.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 14:11:as the waters fail from the sea
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign.
* (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.
* (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.
* (archaic) To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
    A sick man fails.
* (obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.
** 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:had the king in his last sickness failed
* (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.
* 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.

##### Usage notes

* This is a catenative verb which takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs

##### Conjugation

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

##### Alternative forms

* faile (obsolete)
* fayle (obsolete)

##### Synonyms

* (to be unsuccessful): miscarry, come to nought, come to nothing, crash and burn, fall flat, fall on one's face, go downhill, go down the toilet, go to pot, go to the dogs, go up in flames, go up in smoke (not vulgar); die in the ass, everything one touches turns to shit, go to hell, go to shit (vulgar)
* (to receive non-passing grades in academic pursuits): flunk (US)
* (to become deficient): bomb, bust, conk, tank

##### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “to be unsuccessful”): succeed

##### Derived terms

* failable
* fail at life
* failback
* fail closed
* failer
* fail fast
* failgirl
* failing that
* fail of
* fail open
* fail out
* failover
* fail over
* failproof
* fail-safe, fail safe
* failsoft
* fail up
* fail up the ladder
* fail upward
* fail upwards
* failure
* failure to prepare is preparing to fail
* female-fail
* god that failed
* male-fail
* no-fail
* pass-fail
* task failed successfully
* too big to fail
* unfail
* unfailable
* words fail someone

##### Related terms

* default
* fallacy
* false
* fault

##### Descendants

* → Welsh: ffaelu

##### Translations
#### Noun

fail (countable and uncountable, plural fails)
* A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
* A failing grade in an academic examination.
* (slang, US) A failure (something incapable of success).
* (uncountable, slang) Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
    The project was full of fail.

##### Derived terms

* epic fail
* fail-deadly
* fail dyke
* fail-secure
* fail-soft
* failtastic
* fail whale
* foster fail
* made of fail
* without fail

#### Adjective

fail (comparative more fail, superlative most fail)
* (slang, US) Unsuccessful; inadequate; unacceptable in some way.

### Etymology 2

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

#### Alternative forms

* feal

#### Noun

fail (plural fails)
* A piece of turf cut from grassland.

##### Derived terms

* fail and divot

### References

* ↑ 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.
* “fail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fail”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “fail”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* -afil, alif, fila

## Indonesian
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈfaɪl]
* Hyphenation: fa‧il

### Noun

fail
* file,
** a collection of papers collated and archived together.
    Synonyms: berkas, dokumen
** (computing) an aggregation of data on a storage device, identified by a name.
* file rack
    Synonym: rak berkas

### Further reading

* “fail” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Irish
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fˠalʲ/

### Noun

fail f (genitive singular faile, nominative plural faileanna)
* ring
* bracelet
* wreath
* sty

#### Declension

bare forms
case
singular
plural
nominative
fail
faileanna
vocative
a fhail
a fhaileanna
genitive
faile
faileanna
dative
fail
faileanna
forms with the definite article
case
singular
plural
nominative
an fhail
na faileanna
genitive
na faile
na bhfaileanna
dative
leis an bhfail don fhail
leis na faileanna :

### Mutation

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

## Malay
### Etymology

From English file.

### Noun

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

* pemfailan (the process of filing)
* berfail-fail (a lot of files)

### Verb

fail (used in the form memfailkan)
* file (commit papers)
* file (to archive)
* (computing) file (store computer data)
* (with untuk) file (make a formal request)

## Old Irish
### Verb

fail
* Alternative form of fil

## Turkish
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /faːˈil/
* Hyphenation: fa‧il

### Noun

fail (definite accusative faili, plural failler)
* (grammar, archaic) subject
    Synonym: özne
* (archaic) agent, doer
* (law) actor, perpetrator

#### Declension

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

* faili meçhul
* failimuhtar

#### Related terms

* bilfiil
* efal
* faal
* faaliyet
* fiil
* infial
* meful

### References

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

### Further reading

* “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