noun
- Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
- A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)
- A failure (something incapable of success)
- A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).
- A failing grade in an academic examination.
verb
- To be unsuccessful.
- Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
- To neglect.
- Of a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.
- To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.
- To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
- To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
- To miss attaining; to lose.
- To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
- To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
- To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
- To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
- To perish; to die; used of a person.
- To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
- 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.
Synonyms: fall on one's face, flunk
adjective
- That is a failure.
Pronunciation
About this word
Fail is a 3-meaning word in English. Shorter words have fewer anagrams.
This page shows the definition of fail along with every other word you can make from its letters. Click the link above to see all anagrams and shorter words formed from the same set of letters.
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Words in word games
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Scrabble
In Scrabble, the valid word lists are the Official Tournament and Club Word List (OTCWL/NWL) for North America and the Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) for international play. Our dictionary covers most words in both lists, but some proper nouns, abbreviations, and offensive terms may differ.
Wordle
Wordle uses its own curated word list that is smaller than the full Scrabble dictionary. If Fail appears here, it may or may not be a valid Wordle answer — but it is a real English word regardless.
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