What is the difference between fail and lose?

In transitive terms the difference between fail and lose

is that fail is to give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour while lose is to cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.

In obsolete terms the difference between fail and lose

is that fail is to err in judgment; to be mistaken while lose is fame, renown; praise.

As verbs the difference between fail and lose

is that fail is to be unsuccessful while lose is to cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.

As nouns the difference between fail and lose

is that fail is poor quality; substandard workmanship while lose is fame, renown; praise.

As an adjective fail

is that is a failure.

fail

English

Verb

(en verb)

(label) To be unsuccessful.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= A new prescription , passage=As the world’s drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.}}

(label) Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)

(label) To neglect.

To cease to operate correctly.

(label) To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.

* Bible, 1 Kings ii. 4

There shall not fail thee a man on the throne.

* 1843 , (Thomas Carlyle), '', book 3, ch. II, ''Gospel of Mammonism

A poor Irish Widow […] went forth with her three children, bare of all resource, to solicit help from the Charitable Establishments of that City. At this Charitable Establishment and then at that she was refused; referred from one to the other, helped by none; — till she had exhausted them all; till her strength and heart failed her: she sank down in typhus-fever […]

, title=The Mirror and the Lamp , chapter=2 citation , passage=That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired. And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.}}

(label) To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.

(label) To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.

To miss attaining; to lose.

* Milton

though that seat of earthly bliss be failed

To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.

The crops failed last year.

* Bible, Job xiv. 11

as the waters fail from the sea

* Shakespeare

Till Lionel's issue fails , his should not reign.

(archaic) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of .

* Berke

If ever they fail of beauty, this failure is not be attributed to their size.

(archaic) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.

* Milton

When earnestly they seek / Such proof, conclude they then begin to fail .

(archaic) To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.

A sick man fails .

(obsolete) To perish; to die; used of a person.

* Shakespeare

had the king in his last sickness failed

(obsolete) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.

* Milton

Which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps / Shall grieve him, if I fail not.

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.

Usage notes

* This is a catenative verb which takes the to infinitive . See

Synonyms

* (to be unsuccessful) fall on one's face

Antonyms

* (to be unsuccessful) succeed

Derived terms

* failure * fail-safe

Noun

(uncountable) (label) Poor quality; substandard workmanship.

The project was full of fail .

(label) A failure (condition of being unsuccessful)

A failure (something incapable of success)

A failure, especially of a financial transaction (a termination of an action).

A failing grade in an academic examination.

Adjective

(en adjective)

That is a failure.

References

* * *

Anagrams

* English control verbs English ergative verbs 1000 English basic words ----

lose

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) losen, from (etyl) .

Verb

To cause (something) to cease to be in one's possession or capability due to unfortunate or unknown circumstances, events or reasons.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=19 citation , passage=Meanwhile Nanny Broome was recovering from her initial panic and seemed anxious to make up for any kudos she might have lost , by exerting her personality to the utmost. She took the policeman's helmet and placed it on a chair, and unfolded his tunic to shake it and fold it up again for him.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 15, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC Sport

, title= Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest , passage=Forest, who lost striker Kris Boyd to injury seconds before half-time, produced little after the break, with a Tyson sliced shot from 12 yards their only opportunity of note.}}

To wander from; to miss, so as not to be able to find; to go astray from.

I lost my way in the forest.

* Shakespeare

He hath lost his fellows.

To have (an organ) removed from one's body, especially by accident.

To fail to win (a game, competition, trial, etc).

* Dryden

I fought the battle bravely which I lost , / And lost it but to Macedonians.

To shed (weight).

To experience the death of (someone to whom one has an attachment, such as a relative or friend).

To be unable to follow or trace (somebody or something) any longer.

To cause (somebody) to be unable to follow or trace one any longer.

(informal) To shed, remove, discard, or eliminate.

Of a clock, to run slower than expected.

To cause (someone) the loss of something; to deprive of.

* Baxter

O false heart! thou hadst almost betrayed me to eternal flames, and lost me this glory.

* 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 556:

This lost Catholicism any semblance of a claim to special status, and also highlighted the gains which other religious formations had derived from the Revolution.

To fail to catch with the mind or senses; to miss.

I lost a part of what he said.

(archaic) To cause to part with; to deprive of.

* Sir W. Temple

How should you go about to lose him a wife he loves with so much passion?

Usage notes

* Do not confuse lose with loose .

Synonyms

* (sense, cause to cease to be in one's possession) leave behind, mislay * * drop, shed * * * ditch, drop, dump, get rid of, jettison * * (last)

Antonyms

* (sense, cause to cease to be in one's possession) come across, discover, find, gain, acquire, procure, get, pick up, snag * win * gain, put on * * find * pick up * (fail to be the winner) come first, win

Derived terms

* lose heart * lose it * lose one's cool * lose one's head * lose one's life * lose one's lunch * lose one's marbles * lose one's mind * lose one's patience * lose one's rag * lose one's temper * lose one's way * lose out * lose patience * lose time * no love lost

Etymology 2

From (etyl) (los), (loos), from (etyl) .

Noun

(obsolete) Fame, renown; praise.

* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.12:

That much he feared least reprochfull blame / With foule dishonour him mote blot therefore; / Besides the losse of so much loos and fame […].

Anagrams

* 1000 English basic words English irregular verbs ----