a collection of books accepted as holy scripture especially the books of the Bible recognized by any Christian church as genuine and inspired
a complete list of saints that have been recognized by the Roman Catholic Church
a rule or especially body of rules or principles generally established as valid and fundamental in a field or art or philosophy; "the neoclassical canon"; "canons of polite society"
a contrapuntal piece of music in which a melody in one part is imitated exactly in other parts
a basic truth or law or assumption; "the principles of democracy"
a rule or law concerning a natural phenomenon or the function of a complex system; "the principle of the conservation of mass"; "the principle of jet propulsion"; "the right-hand rule for inductive fields"
a basic generalization that is accepted as true and that can be used as a basis for reasoning or conduct; "their principles of composition characterized all their works"
a rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not violate his principles"
stop operating or functioning; "The engine finally went"; "The car died on the road"; "The bus we travelled in broke down on the way to town"; "The coffee maker broke"; "The engine failed on the way to town"; "her eyesight went after the accident"
prove insufficient; "The water supply for the town failed after a long drought"
disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake; "His sense of smell failed him this time"; "His strength finally failed him"; "His children failed him in the crisis"
become bankrupt or insolvent; fail financially and close; "The toy company went bankrupt after the competition hired cheap Mexican labor"; "A number of banks failed that year"
fall short in what is expected; "She failed in her obligations as a good daughter-in-law"; "We must not fail his obligation to the victims of the Holocaust"
fail to get a passing grade; "She studied hard but failed nevertheless"; "Did I fail the test?"
judge unacceptable; "The teacher failed six students"
be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
fail to do something; leave something undone; "She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib"; "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"