Fail

//feɪl//

Synonyms for "fail" (278 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Related words (139)

Verb(5 words)

go up in smoke go wrong neglect run out tank

go wrong grief grow old gutter have nothing on headline hit a slump hit rock bottom hit the skids ignore impoverish jade kick the beam labor in vain lack lag languish lapse leave undone lessen

Show 114 more words

let down let go let ride let slide let slip lose lose ground lose sight of lose strength lose track of make a hit melodramatize miscarry misfire miss mount neglect nod not answer not approach not care for not come near not come off not compare not get involved not hack it not heed not make it not make out not measure up not pass not qualify not stretch not suffice not think not work omit open open a show overlook overpass pack pass pass by pass over pass the buck peak peg out peter out pine play second fiddle pluck poop out premiere present preview produce put on rank under reach the depths relapse run aground run down run out run short scenarize serve set the stage shake shift the blame shift the responsibility short shrink shrivel shut down sicken sink sleep slide slight slip slump slur over spin stage stall star stop short strike subserve subside succeed take for granted theatricalize totter touch bottom try out turn gray turn white wane want wash out waste waste away weaken wear away wear thin wilt wither wither away wizen worsen wrinkle yield

How these synonyms differ

collapse - 'Collapse' is catastrophic, it implies complete structural failure, not just underperformance.
falter - 'Falter' suggests a stumble, not a collapse, momentum wavers but recovery is still possible.
flounder - 'Flounder' implies clumsy struggling, failing in a visible, ungraceful way without direction or control.
stumble - 'Stumble' suggests a misstep you might recover from, a temporary setback, not a terminal failure.

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

11 relation types

More general

18 entries

act alter cease change decline disappoint end evaluate finish judge let down move neglect pass judgment stop terminate

Showing 16 of 18 words.

Antonyms

11 entries

achieve exam manage pass pass exam pass succeed succeed success win

Synonyms

2 entries

failure fall on one's face

Related terms

4 entries

default fallacy false fault

derived

45 entries

epic fail fail and divot fail at life fail closed fail dyke fail fast fail of fail open fail out fail over fail safe fail up fail up the ladder fail upward fail upwards fail whale

Showing 16 of 45 words.

distinct from

11 entries

achieve completing do pass passed passing succeed succeeding success win winning

has context

2 entries

slang us

made of

1 entries

epic fail

manner of

4 entries

change disappoint judge worsen

related to

68 entries

academic achieve action again bad bad grade bad grades bad test bankrupt cease desert disappoint disappointment do doing doing poorly

Showing 16 of 68 words.

similar

22 entries

bomb break buy the farm cash in one's chips choke conk croak decease die drop dead exit expire flunk flush it give-up the ghost go

Showing 16 of 22 words.

Translations

290 translations across 48 languages.

Albanian

3 entries

dështoj verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
mundem verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
ngel verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)

Ancient Greek

4 entries

διαμαρτάνω verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
διαμαρτάνω verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
ἀποτυγχάνω verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
ἀποτυγχάνω verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Arabic

4 entries

أَخْفَقَ verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
رسب verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
رَسَبَ verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
سقط verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)

Bulgarian

4 entries

не рабо́тя verb (cease to operate)
не сполу́чвам verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
не успя́вам verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
отка́звам verb (cease to operate)

Catalan

4 entries

espatllar-se verb (cease to operate)
fallar verb (cease to operate)
fracassar verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
fracassar verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Chinese Mandarin

2 entries

失敗 /失败 verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
故障 verb (cease to operate)

Czech

4 entries

nechat propadnout verb (cause to fail)
propadnout verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
přestat fungovat verb (cease to operate)
selhat verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Danish

4 entries

dumpe verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
dumpe verb (cause to fail)
fejle verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
forsømme verb (be negligent)

Dutch

4 entries

buizen verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
buizen verb (cause to fail)
falen verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
falen verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Esperanto

2 entries

malsukcesi verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
malsukcesigi verb (cause to fail)

Estonian

3 entries

edutu verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
nurjuma verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
seiskuma verb (cease to operate)

Finnish

4 entries

ei verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
ei verb (be negligent)
epäonnistua verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
epäonnistua verb (be negligent)

French

4 entries

cesser verb (cease to operate)
décevoir verb (to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert)
faillir verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
négliger verb (be negligent)

Galician

4 entries

apengar verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
apengar verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
falir verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
falir verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

German

4 entries

durchfallen verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
fehlschlagen verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
keinen Erfolg haben verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
missglücken verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Greek

1 entries

αποτυγχάνω verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Hebrew

2 entries

כשל verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
נִכְשַׁל verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Hungarian

4 entries

cserben hagy verb (to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert)
csődöt mond verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
elbukik verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
elfelejt verb (be negligent)

Indonesian

1 entries

gagal verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Irish

4 entries

clis verb (cease to operate)
clis verb (to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert)
clis ar verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
clis ar verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Italian

4 entries

andare in bancarotta verb (cease to operate)
bocciare verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
cannare verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
fallire verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Japanese

1 entries

失敗する verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Khmer

1 entries

ខ្សុយ verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Korean

1 entries

실패하다 verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Kyrgyz

2 entries

жол болбоо verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
иш ордунан чыкпай калуу verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Latin

4 entries

dēficiō verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
dēficiō verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
dēsum verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
dēsum verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Malay

1 entries

gagal verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Marathi

2 entries

नापास होणे verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
फेल होणे verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)

Māori

4 entries

ngaengae verb (cease to operate)
ngere verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
paheke verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
rahua verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Norwegian

2 entries

feile verb (cease to operate)
svikte verb (be negligent)

Norwegian Bokmål

2 entries

mislykkes verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
mislykkes verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Old English

1 entries

trucian verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Persian

4 entries

تصورکردن verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
خراب شدن verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
شکست خوردن verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
موفق نشدن verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Polish

4 entries

nie udać się verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
przestać działać verb (cease to operate)
zawieść verb (to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert)
zawodzić verb (to be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert)

Portuguese

4 entries

deixar de verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
deixar de verb (be negligent)
falhar verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
falhar verb (cease to operate)

Quechua

1 entries

qulluy verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Romanian

4 entries

pica verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
rata verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
se strica verb (cease to operate)
strica verb (cause to fail)

Russian

4 entries

вы́йти из стро́я verb (cease to operate)
выходи́ть из стро́я verb (cease to operate)
не рабо́тать verb (cease to operate)
не спра́виться verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Scottish Gaelic

2 entries

fàillig verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
fàillig verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Spanish

4 entries

catear verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
catear verb (to give a student a non-passing grade)
darse un sentón verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)
desaprobar verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)

Swedish

4 entries

fallera verb (cease to operate)
mankera verb (cease to operate)
misslyckas verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
misslyckas verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Tagalog

4 entries

biguin verb (cause to fail)
bumagsak verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
mabigo verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
mabigo verb (transitive: not achieve a stated goal)

Thai

4 entries

ตก verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)
พัง verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
พัง verb (cease to operate)
ล้มเหลว verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Tocharian B

1 entries

kwäl verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Turkish

2 entries

sınıfta bırakmak verb (cause to fail)
sınıfta kalmak verb (to receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits)

Ukrainian

1 entries

зазна́ти невда́чі verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Vietnamese

1 entries

thất bại verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Welsh

2 entries

ffili verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)
methu verb (intransitive: be unsuccessful)

Sample sentences

34 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

I don't want to fail my exams.

Source: tatoeba (2109)

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

Source: tatoeba (2278)

You must work hard in order not to fail.

Source: tatoeba (16027)

Your plan is bound to fail.

Source: tatoeba (17255)

Showing 4 of 34 available sentences.

More for "fail"

Meaning Antonyms Sentences Word Type

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.

Fail

Synonyms for "fail" (278 found)

Closest matches (56)

Strong matches (83)

Related words (139)

How these synonyms differ

Related word relations

More general

Antonyms

Synonyms

Related terms

derived

distinct from

has context

made of

manner of

related to

similar

Translations

Albanian

Ancient Greek

Arabic

Bulgarian

Catalan

Chinese Mandarin

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Estonian

Finnish

French

Galician

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Irish

Italian

Japanese

Khmer

Korean

Kyrgyz

Latin

Malay

Marathi

Māori

Norwegian

Norwegian Bokmål

Old English

Persian

Polish

Portuguese

Quechua

Romanian

Russian

Scottish Gaelic

Spanish

Swedish

Tagalog

Thai

Tocharian B

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Sample sentences

More for "fail"

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