fail

Verb

• get worse
  • Her health is declining
    

• prove insufficient
  • The water supply for the town failed after a long drought
    

• become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close
  • The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor
    
  • A number of banks failed that year
    

• fall short in what is expected
  • She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law
    
  • We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust
    

• fail to get a passing grade
  • She studied hard but failed nevertheless
    
  • Did I fail the test?
    

• judge unacceptable
  • The teacher failed six students
    

• be unable
  • I fail to understand your motives
    

• stop operating or functioning
  • 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
    

• disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
  • His sense of smell failed him this time
    
  • His strength finally failed him
    
  • His children failed him in the crisis
    

• be unsuccessful
  • Where do today's public schools fail?
    
  • The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably
    

• fail to do something; leave something undone
  • 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
    

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  run out , give out , flunk , bomb , flush it , go bad , give way , die , conk out , go , break , break down , betray , go wrong , miscarry , neglect
• Antonyms: 
  pass , make it , pull off , negociate , bring off , carry off , manage , succeed , win , come through , bring home the bacon , deliver the goods