Main entry: fail
Definition: get worse
Usage: Her health is declining
Main entry: break, break down, die, conk out, go, go bad, give out, give way, fail
Definition: stop operating or functioning
Usage: The engine finally went; The car died on the road; The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town; The coffee maker broke; The engine failed on the way to town; her eyesight went after the accident
Main entry: run out, fail, give out
Definition: prove insufficient
Usage: The water supply for the town failed after a long drought
Definition: disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
Usage: His sense of smell failed him this time; His strength finally failed him; His children failed him in the crisis
Main entry: fail
Definition: become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close
Usage: The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor; A number of banks failed that year
Main entry: fail
Definition: fall short in what is expected
Usage: She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law; We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust
Main entry: fail, flunk, flush it, bomb
Definition: fail to get a passing grade
Usage: She studied hard but failed nevertheless; Did I fail the test?
Main entry: fail
Definition: judge unacceptable
Usage: The teacher failed six students
Main entry: fail, miscarry, go wrong
Definition: be unsuccessful
Usage: Where do today's public schools fail?; The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably
Definition: fail to do something; leave something undone
Usage: She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib; The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account
Main entry: fail
Definition: be unable
Usage: I fail to understand your motives