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"
the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past
a person's experience on a particular occasion; "he had a time holding back the tears"; "they had a good time together"
an instance or single occasion for some event; "this time he succeeded"; "he called four times"; "he could do ten at a clip"
an indefinite period (usually marked by specific attributes or activities); "he waited a long time"; "the time of year for planting"; "he was a great actor is his time"
a suitable moment; "it is time to go"
a period of time considered as a resource under your control and sufficient to accomplish something; "take time to smell the roses"; "I didn't have time to finish"; "it took more than half my time"
adjust so that a force is applied and an action occurs at the desired time; "The good player times his swing so as to hit the ball squarely"
regulate or set the time of; "time the clock"
assign a time for an activity or event; "The candidate carefully timed his appearance at the disaster scene"
set the speed, duration, or execution of; "we time the process to manufacture our cars very precisely"
earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something; "made an effort to cover all the reading material"; "wished him luck in his endeavor"; "she gave it a good try"