English > fail: 11 senses > verb 2, social| Meaning | Be unsuccessful. |
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| Pattern | Something ----s; Somebody ----s; Something is ----ing PP; Somebody ----s PP |
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| Examples | - "Where do today's public schools fail?"
- "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
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| Synonyms | go wrong, miscarry |
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| Narrower | botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up | make a mess of, destroy or ruin |
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| fall | Suffer defeat, failure, or ruin |
| fall through, fall flat, founder, flop | fail utterly |
| miss | fail to reach or get to |
| overreach | fail by aiming too high or trying too hard |
| shipwreck | Suffer failure, as in some enterprise |
| strike out | Be unsuccessful in an endeavor / endeavor |
| take it on the chin | Undergo failure or defeat / defeat |
| Opposite | succeed, win, come through, bring home the bacon, deliver the goods | attain success or reach a desired goal / goal |
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| Spanish | fallar, fracasar, zozobrar |
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| Catalan | equivocar-se, fallar, fracassar |
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| Nouns | failure | an act that fails |
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| failure | an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose |
| failure | a person with a record of failing |
| failure | lack of success |
English > fail: 11 senses > verb 4, change| Meaning | stop operating or functioning. |
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| Pattern | Something ----s |
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| Model | These cars won't fail |
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| Example | "The engine failed on the way to town" |
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| Synonyms | go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down |
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| Narrower | blow out, burn out, blow | melt, break, or become otherwise unusable |
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| crash, go down | stop operating |
| malfunction, misfunction | fail to function or function improperly |
| misfire | fail to fire or detonate |
| Broader | change | Undergo a change |
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| Similar to | break | Render inoperable or ineffective |
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| die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass, kick the bucket, cash in one's chips, buy the farm, conk, give-up the ghost, drop dead, pop off, choke, croak, snuff it | Pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain / sustain life |
| Spanish | averiarse, estropearse, fallar, morir, pararse, perecer, romper |
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| Catalan | avariar-se, espatllar-se, fallar, parar-se |
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| Nouns | failure | loss of ability to function normally |
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