Failing

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fail \Fail\, n. [OF. faille, from failir. See {Fail}, v. i.]
     1. Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly
        superseded by {failure} or {failing}, except in the phrase
        without fail. "His highness' fail of issue." --Shak.
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     2. Death; decease. [Obs.] --Shak.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Failing \Fail"ing\, n.
     1. A failing short; a becoming deficient; failure;
        deficiency; imperfection; weakness; lapse; fault;
        infirmity; as, a mental failing.
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              And ever in her mind she cast about
              For that unnoticed failing in herself. --Tennyson.
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     2. The act of becoming insolvent of bankrupt.
  
     Syn: See {Fault}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fail \Fail\ (f[=a]l) v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Failed} (f[=a]ld); p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Failing}.] [F. failir, fr. L. fallere, falsum,
     to deceive, akin to E. fall. See {Fail}, and cf. {Fallacy},
     {False}, {Fault}.]
     1. To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in
        any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be
        furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be
        altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams
        fail; crops fail.
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              As the waters fail from the sea.      --Job xiv. 11.
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              Till Lionel's issue fails, his should not reign.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be
        deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
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              If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be
              attributed to their size.             --Berke.
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     3. To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay;
        to sink.
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              When earnestly they seek
              Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail.
                                                    --Milton.
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     4. To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources,
        etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
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     5. To perish; to die; -- used of a person. [Obs.]
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              Had the king in his last sickness failed. --Shak.
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     6. To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to
        be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not
        to fulfill expectation.
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              Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. --Ezra
                                                    iv. 22.
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              Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
                                                    --Shak.
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     7. To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired;
        to be baffled or frusrated.
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              Our envious foe hath failed.          --Milton.
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     8. To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
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              Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps
              Shall grieve him, if I fail not.      --Milton.
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     9. To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to
        be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business
        obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent; as, many
        credit unions failed in the late 1980's.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  failing
       adj 1: unable to meet financial obligations; "a failing business
              venture" [syn: {failed}]
       2: below acceptable in performance; "received failing grades"
       n 1: a flaw or weak point; "he was quick to point out his wife's
            failings" [syn: {weakness}]
       2: failure to reach a minimum required performance; "his
          failing the course led to his disqualification" [ant: {passing}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  202 Moby Thesaurus words for "failing":
     abortive, arrested, bad habit, besetting sin, blemish, blind spot,
     bootless, bug, cachectic, callow, catch, comedown, coming apart,
     crack, cracking, crumbling, debasement, debilitated, decadence,
     decadency, decadent, declension, declination, decline, declining,
     defect, defection, defective, deficiency, deficient, deformation,
     degeneracy, degenerate, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation,
     demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, derogation,
     descent, deteriorating, deterioration, devolution, disintegrating,
     downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drained,
     draining, drawback, drooping, drop, dwindling, dying, ebb, ebbing,
     effete, effeteness, embryonic, enervated, exhausted, fading,
     failed, failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling, falling-off,
     fault, faute, feeble, flagging, flaw, foible, found wanting,
     fragmenting, frail, frailty, fruitless, futile, going to pieces,
     healthless, hole, hypoplastic, immature, imperfect, imperfection,
     in arrear, in arrears, in default, in default of, in poor health,
     in short supply, inadequacy, inadequate, incompetent, incomplete,
     ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, infant, infirm, infirmity,
     insufficient, invalid, involution, kink, lacking, lame,
     languishing, lapse, little problem, loss of tone, manque,
     marcescent, miscarried, miscarrying, missing, moral flaw, moribund,
     needing, not enough, of no effect, pale, part, partial, patchy,
     peaked, peaky, pining, problem, reduced, reduced in health,
     regression, regressive, retrocession, retrogradation, retrograde,
     retrogression, retrogressive, rift, run-down, sans, scant, scanty,
     scarce, scrappy, short, shortcoming, shriveling, shy, sickly,
     sinking, sketchy, sliding, slippage, slipping, slump, slumping,
     snag, something missing, stickit, stillborn, subsiding,
     successless, tabetic, taint, too little, underdeveloped,
     undeveloped, unequal to, unfortunate, unhealthy, unqualified,
     unsatisfactory, unsatisfying, unsound, unsuccessful, unsufficing,
     useless, valetudinarian, valetudinary, vice, vulnerable place,
     wane, waning, wanting, wasting, weak link, weak point, weak side,
     weakened, weakly, weakness, wilting, with low resistance,
     withering, without, worsening