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Hinder vs Fail - What's the difference?

hinder | fail |

As nouns the difference between hinder and fail

is that hinder is (slang|euphemistic) the buttocks while fail is .

As a verb hinder

is to make difficult to accomplish; to frustrate, act as obstacle.

As an adjective hinder

is of or belonging to that part or end which is in the rear or hind, or which follows.

hinder

English

Alternative forms

* hindre (archaic)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) hindrian, from (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)
  • To make difficult to accomplish; to frustrate, act as obstacle.
  • A drought hinders the growth of plants.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=December 10 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Arsenal were playing without a recognised full-back - their defence comprising four centre-halves - and the lack of width was hindering their progress.}}
  • * 1599 , act ii, scene 2 (act i; First Folio ed.):
  • Since God ?o graciou?ly hath brought to light
    This dangerous Trea?on, lurking in our way,
    To hinder our beginnings.
  • To keep back; to delay or impede; to prevent.
  • * 1591 , act ii, scene 7 (First Folio ed.):
  • Then let me goe, and hinder not my cour?e
  • * John Locke
  • What hinders younger brothers, being fathers of families, from having the same right?
  • (obsolete) To cause harm.
  • Synonyms
    * (to delay or impede movement) bar, block, delay, hamper, impede, obstruct, restrain, stop * (to make a task difficult) delay, frustrate, hamper, impede, obstruct, prevent, thwart * See also
    Antonyms
    * (to delay or impede movement) aid, assist, help * (to make a task difficult) assist, expedite, facilitate, help
    Derived terms
    * hinderment * hinderer * hindrance * unhindered

    Etymology 2

    (hind)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of or belonging to that part or end which is in the rear or hind, or which follows.
  • the hinder end of a wagon
    the hinder parts of a horse
  • * 1990 - C. W. H. Havard (ed.), Black's Medical Dictionary , 36th edition, p 673
  • On a line dividing the front two-thirds from the hinder one-third, and set in the shape of a V, is a row of seven to twelve large flat-topped circumvallate papillae, ...
  • (hind)
  • Usage notes
    Most current uses of this adjective occur in anatomical contexts.
    Synonyms
    * (of or belonging to that part in the rear) back, hind, rear, posterior
    Antonyms
    * (of or belonging to that part in the rear) fore, front

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (slang, euphemistic) The buttocks.
  • * 1997 , Richard Laliberte and Stephen C. George, The Men's Health Guide to Peak Conditioning [http://books.google.com/books?id=2MOrDKokat8C], ISBN 0875963234, page 195:
  • Like martial arts, in-line skating is predicated on the notion that sooner or later you're going to end up on your hinder .

    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

    * * *