fail

verb

ˈfāl How to pronounce fail (audio)
Definition of failnext
1
as in to die
to stop functioning my car failed just as I was about to head to work

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2
as in to collapse
to be unsuccessful despite all the publicity, the movie failed miserably at the box office

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3
as in to disappoint
to fall short in satisfying the expectation or hope of although the minor-league franchise continues to fail local fans, hope springs eternal

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4
as in to weaken
to lose bodily strength or vigor ever since she reached the age of 90, Grandma has been noticeably failing

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5
as in to forget
to miss the opportunity or obligation failed to mention that he was looking for new job

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fail But on Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s Office said the initiative failed to qualify for the ballot. — Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 14 July 2026 The President has continued to promote conspiracy theories even as his own Justice Department, lawsuits, and independent studies have failed to find evidence of significant anomalies. — Chad De Guzman, Time, 14 July 2026 Shares of AstraZeneca fell as much as 9% on Friday after a late-stage clinical trial for a heart disease drug failed to meet its target. — Joseph Wilkins, CNBC, 14 July 2026 The gaffe is the result of Microsoft, which oversees the signing of shims, failing to revoke the publicly available images once vulnerabilities were found in them. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 14 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for fail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fail
  1. die
  2. collapse
  3. disappoint
  4. weaken
  5. forget
  6. crash
  7. miss
  8. fade
Verb
  • Tuesday’s death also marked at least the 46th person to die while in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail or RCCC since January 2021, according to data compiled by The Sacramento Bee.
    — Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 15 July 2026
  • As beta-amyloid levels rise in the brain, tangles of proteins called tau begin gathering inside brain cells, causing neurons to collapse and die.
    — Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 15 July 2026
Definition of die
Verb
  • The camaraderie was evident on the ground here in La Guaira, the coastal city where quake damage was most severe, collapsing dozens of buildings.
    — Mery Mogollón, Los Angeles Times, 5 July 2026
  • The dogs, specially trained to detect human scent, have spent days searching for people trapped beneath the rubble of nearly 200 buildings that collapsed following the two powerful back-to-back earthquakes.
    — Alessandra Freitas, CNN Money, 5 July 2026
Definition of collapse
Verb
  • On Tuesday, meanwhile, investors aggressively dumped semiconductor stocks after Samsung’s results disappointed.
    — Katie Foley, CNBC, 10 July 2026
  • The tasks are fixed, the questions leak into training data, and every lab tunes against them, which is how a model can top a leaderboard on launch day and disappoint in production a month later.
    — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 10 July 2026
Definition of disappoint
Verb
  • The flow of dark traffic is one of the factors that helped explain why oil markets had weakened significantly by early June, together with a surge in exports from the US and pullback in buying by China.
    — Weilun Soon, Fortune, 5 July 2026
  • But as several surveys have consistently indicated, optimism about our country's outlook has undeniably weakened.
    — Robert Hormats, Time, 4 July 2026
Definition of weaken
Verb
  • Hard to say, because Rob Rausch’s Traitors domination is hard to forget.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 8 July 2026
  • And don’t forget that hoarders are the quiet heroes of society.
    — Shivali H. Patra, Mercury News, 8 July 2026
Definition of forget
Verb
  • Fans of Brazil, Colombia and Portugal also were crushed that their teams, expected to make deep runs, crashed out so early.
    — Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 10 July 2026
  • Obviously this won’t crash the machine but windows won’t behave properly with a full disk, multiple apps and services crash randomly.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 9 July 2026
Definition of crash
Verb
  • In the early days, the page teemed with posts sharing objects found, along with heartfelt and, at times, gut-wrenching pleas for missing personal items.
    — Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN Money, 6 July 2026
  • After making all six of his shots and four of his free throws on Friday, Lendeborg was 0 for 4 from the field and missed both of his foul shots in the first half.
    — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 6 July 2026
Definition of miss
Verb
  • Most of Future’s peers in the post-Lil Wayne digital-trap era of the early 2010s, from fellow Atlanta stars Young Thug and 2 Chainz to Southern boldfaced names like Kodak Black and Kevin Gates, have faded back into the regional-rap morass.
    — Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 14 July 2026
  • Each song explores a different kind of longing—lovers come together but fall apart, dreams fade away only to have resolutions renewed—against a different strain of soul.
    — Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork, 14 July 2026
Definition of fade

Browse Nearby Words

fags
fail
fail (at)
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Cite this Entry

“Fail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fail. Accessed 15 Jul. 2026.

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