failing

  • 1Failing — Fail ing, n. 1. A failing short; a becoming deficient; failure; deficiency; imperfection; weakness; lapse; fault; infirmity; as, a mental failing. [1913 Webster] And ever in her mind she cast about For that unnoticed failing in herself. Tennyson …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2failing — [adj] not well, weak declining, defeated, deficient, faint, feeble, inadequate, insufficient, scant, scanty, scarce, short, shy, unavailing, unprosperous, unsuccessful, unsufficient, unthriving, vain, wanting; concepts 485,489 Ant. healthy, ok,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 3failing — [fāl′iŋ] n. 1. a failure 2. a slight fault or defect; weakness prep. without; lacking [failing a good voter turnout, our candidate will lose] SYN. FAULT …

    English World dictionary

  • 4failing — I noun asthenia, atony, blemish, cachexia, collapse, debilitation, decadence, decay, decline, decrepitude, defeat, deficiency, delinquency, disadvantage, failure, fallibility, fault, fiasco, flaw, foible, frailty, imperfection, inadequacy,… …

    Law dictionary

  • 5failing — defect, fault, 1580s, verbal noun from FAIL (Cf. fail) …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 6failing — n frailty, foible, *fault, vice Analogous words: *blemish, flaw, defect: weakness, infirmity (see corresponding adjectives at WEAK) Antonyms: perfection (in concrete sense) Contrasted words: *excellence, merit, virtue …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 7failing — ► NOUN ▪ a weakness in a person s character. ► PREPOSITION ▪ if not …

    English terms dictionary

  • 8failing — fail|ing1 [ feılıŋ ] noun count a fault or a weak point that makes someone or something less effective: He had his failings, but he was basically a good man. the failings of the criminal justice system failing fail|ing 2 [ feılıŋ ] adjective no… …

    Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • 9failing — I UK [ˈfeɪlɪŋ] / US noun [countable] Word forms failing : singular failing plural failings a fault or a weak point that makes someone or something less effective He had his failings, but he was basically a good man. the failings of the criminal… …

    English dictionary

  • 10failing — failingly, adv. failingness, n. /fay ling/, n. 1. an act or instance of failing; failure: His failing is due to general incompetence. 2. a defect or fault; shortcoming; weakness: His lack of knowledge is a grave failing. prep. 3. in the absence… …

    Universalium