- (v.i.) 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.
- (v.i.) To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired; to be baffled or frusrated.
- (v.t.) To be wanting to; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
- (v.t.) To miss of attaining; to lose.
- (v.i.) To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams fail; crops fail.
- (v.i.) Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
- (v.i.) To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
- (v.i.) To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
- (v.i.) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
- (v.i.) To perish; to die; -- used of a person.
- (v.i.) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
- (v.i.) Death; decease.
- (v.i.) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
| APA | Webster's. (2011). fail. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/fail/definitions/2006747 |
| Chicago | Webster's. 2011. "fail" http://smartdefine.org/fail/definitions/2006747 (accessed September 20, 2026). |
| Harvard | Webster's 2011, fail, Smart Define, viewed 20 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/fail/definitions/2006747>. |
| MLA | Webster's. "fail" 27 May 2011. Web. 20 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/fail/definitions/2006747> |