Word.ws English Dictionary

fail open

fail open verb: of an access control system: to automatically let all traffic through in the case of a failure. For example, an emergency door unlocking in the event of a power outage.

Verb

fail open (third-person singular simple present fails open, present participle failing open, simple past and past participle failed open)

  1. Of an access control system: to automatically let all traffic through in the case of a failure. For example, an emergency door unlocking in the event of a power outage.
    • Coordinate term: fail closed

Forms of fail open

third-person singular presentfails open
present participlefailing open
past participlefailed open
pastfailed open

Questions about fail open

What does fail open mean?
Fail open means of an access control system: to automatically let all traffic through in the case of a failure. For example, an emergency door unlocking in the event of a power outage.
What part of speech is fail open?
Fail open is a verb.
What is the past tense of fail open?
The past tense of fail open is failed open.

Words near fail open in the dictionary

  1. fail closed
  2. fail dyke
  3. fail dykes
  4. fail fast
  5. fail of
  6. fail open
  7. fail out
  8. fail over
  9. fail safe
  10. fail up
  11. fail up the ladder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fail open (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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