Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of a person or thing that fails; a failure.
  • noun A minor fault.
  • adjective Undergoing failure.
  • preposition In the absence of; without.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act or condition of one who fails; imperfection; weakness; fault.
  • noun Synonyms Foible, imperfection, shortcoming, weakness, infirmity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A failing short; a becoming deficient; failure; deficiency; imperfection; weakness; lapse; fault; infirmity.
  • noun The act of becoming insolvent of bankrupt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of fail.
  • noun weakness; defect
  • preposition if the preferred or prior option is not possible

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective below acceptable in performance
  • noun a flaw or weak point
  • noun failure to reach a minimum required performance

Etymologies

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