Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use fail in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective

Fail means to be unsuccessful. Example: “Throughout my life, I have always failed.”

Examples of fail by meaning

verbTo be unsuccessful.

  • Throughout my life, I have always failed.
  • As the world’s drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants.2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848

verbNot to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.).

  • The truck failed to start.

verbTo neglect.

  • The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors.
  • Those who have advocated the closure of the G.C. have so far failed to say by which alternative route this North-to-West traffic could be carried.1960 December, B. Perren, “The role of the Great Central—present and future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 765

verbOf a machine, etc.: to cease to operate correctly.

  • After running five minutes, the engine failed.
  • We also found that the only emergency egress from the tram was by smashing the front or rear windscreens, and that emergency lighting had failed when the tram overturned.2021 December 29, Dominique Louis, “Causal analysis: crashworthiness at Sandilands”, in RAIL, number 947, page 33

verbTo be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert; to disappoint one's expectations.

  • I've failed my parents many times growing up.
  • And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC
  • Just like I failed Jax.2025 August 15, Gooseworx, “They All Get Guns” (18:32 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 6, spoken by Ragatha (Amanda...

verbTo receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.

  • I failed English last year.

verbTo give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.

  • The professor failed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments.

verbTo be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.

  • The crops failed last year.

More sentences with fail

  • If the player fails to hit the ball on, it's a foul.From the entry on
  • He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.From the entry can
  • If we fail to absorb the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them.From the entry absorb
  • The five ball angled off the nine ball but failed to reach the pocket.From the entry angle
  • There were too many mistakes in the test that, unfortunately, made you fail.From the entry mistake
  • After a failed connection attempt, the program sleeps for 5 seconds before trying again.From the entry sleep
  • They failed to respect the treaty they had signed, and invaded.From the entry respect
  • At the micro level, he was a good manager. At the macro level, he failed.From the entry micro
  • They failed to find any investors for the construction of new real estate on the north side.From the entry real estate
  • He's studying hard to pass the Bar this time; he's failed it twice before.From the entry bar
  • She failed in her goal to become captain of the team.From the entry goal
  • He always concentrates on the superficials and fails to see the real issue.From the entry superficial
  • The application failed when attempting to dial the Postgres server, because there were too many open connections.From the entry dial
  • This business will fail if it can't move the inventory quickly.From the entry move
  • He failed to make payments on time, and he is now in default.From the entry default
  • The parse will fail if the program contains an unrecognised keyword.From the entry parse
  • The project failed due to the scarce resources in the national market.From the entry scarce
  • Two of the members tried several times, but failed to reunite the band.From the entry reunite
  • Despite extensive simulation in the design phase, the aircraft failed to behave as expected.From the entry simulation
  • The bills mounted up and the business failed. There is mounting tension in Crimea.From the entry mount
  • This test frustrates me because if I fail, it'll destroy my grade.From the entry frustrate
  • He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.From the entry writing on the wall
  • Your login failed because you weren't connected to the office network.From the entry login
  • After his last two projects failed, he was really behind the eight-ball.From the entry behind the eight-ball
  • If this team of consultants fails, I have another warming up in the bullpen.From the entry bullpen
  • Although he failed, the prime minister made a bona fide attempt to repair the nation's damaged economy.From the entry bona fide
  • Time after time he tries, and time and again, he fails.From the entry time after time

Meaning of fail

  1. verb To be unsuccessful.
  2. verb Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.).
  3. verb To neglect.

Full definition of fail

Questions about fail in a sentence

How do you use fail in a sentence?
Fail is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “Throughout my life, I have always failed.”
What is a short sentence with fail?
“I failed English last year.”
What does fail mean?
Fail means to be unsuccessful.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fail (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use fail in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/fail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.