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# fail

«fail» in Mova's school dictionary: **not to do what you tried or wanted to do** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (fail, fails, failed, failing); noun (fail, fails — informal: a failure)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To fail means not to do what you tried or wanted to do. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#m1)

2) To fail a test is not to pass it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#m2)

3) To fail means to stop working or to break down: the brakes failed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#m3)

4) Never fail to means always: he never fails to say thank you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In maths: tries that do not work are counted; the ones that pass = total − failed; failed + passed = all. In science: an experiment that fails still teaches us something. In life: everyone fails sometimes; try again and learn from mistakes. Phrases: fail a test, fail to, never fail to, without fail, power failure.

### examples

- 3 of the 25 pupils failed the test. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x1)
- He failed 2 of his 10 tries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x2)
- How many passed if 4 failed? [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x3)
- The seeds that fail to grow are thrown away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x4)
- The lights failed during the storm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x5)
- If you fail at first, try again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x6)
- He goes swimming every Saturday without fail. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x7)
- Her plan to surprise Mum failed when Mum came home early. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x8)
- So the Third Knight failed also. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/#x9)

### note

Noun «failure». Opposite: pass or succeed. Failed + passed = all. Trap: check whether the question asks for those who failed or passed. «Fail to» means did not do: he failed to notice.

### In the corpora

- [Sam got full marks on bot homework and then failed the test.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/9-the-essay-the-teacher-spotted/4/)
- [Real predators hunt to eat, not out of anger or meanness, and many fail more hunts than they win.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/142-zootopia-real-sloths-shrews-predators-and-prey/15/)
- [Kai changes his mind halfway through a book: that is not failing, it is reading well.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/19-prediction-what-happens-next/7/)
- [The plan failed because he didn't think of the birds: one event causes the next.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/22-reading-a-story-characters-plot-and-setting/6/)
- ["Not yet" used as a grade (US) means fail.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/17-school-and-pets/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «fail» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fail/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.