The difference between Fail and Succeed
When used as verbs, fail means to be unsuccessful, whereas succeed means to follow in order.
Fail is also noun with the meaning: poor quality.
Fail is also adjective with the meaning: that is a failure.
check bellow for the other definitions of Fail and Succeed
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Fail as a verb (intransitive):
To be unsuccessful.
Examples:
"Throughout my life, I have always failed."
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Fail as a verb (transitive):
Not to achieve a particular stated goal. (Usage note: The direct object of this word is usually an infinitive.)
Examples:
"The truck failed to start."
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Fail as a verb (transitive):
To neglect.
Examples:
"The report fails to take into account all the mitigating factors."
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Fail as a verb (intransitive, of a machine, etc.):
To cease to operate correctly.
Examples:
"After running five minutes, the engine failed."
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Fail as a verb (transitive):
To be wanting to, to be insufficient for, to disappoint, to desert.
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Fail as a verb (ambitransitive):
To receive one or more non-passing grades in academic pursuits.
Examples:
"I failed English last year."
"I failed in English last year."
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Fail as a verb (transitive):
To give a student a non-passing grade in an academic endeavour.
Examples:
"The professor failed me because I did not complete any of the course assignments."
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Fail as a verb (transitive, obsolete):
To miss attaining; to lose.
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Fail as a verb:
To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence.
Examples:
"The crops failed last year."
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Fail as a verb (archaic):
To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; used with of.
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Fail as a verb (archaic):
To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
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Fail as a verb (archaic):
To deteriorate in respect to vigour, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker.
Examples:
"A sick man fails."
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Fail as a verb (obsolete):
To perish; to die; used of a person.
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Fail as a verb (obsolete):
To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
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Fail as a verb:
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.
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Fail as a noun (uncountable, slang):
Poor quality; substandard workmanship.
Examples:
"The project was full of fail."
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Fail as a noun (slang):
A failure
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Fail as a noun (slang, US):
A failure
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Fail as a noun:
A failure, especially of a financial transaction .
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Fail as a noun:
A failing grade in an academic examination.
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Fail as an adjective (slang, US):
That is a failure.
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Fail as a noun:
A piece of turf cut from grassland.
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Succeed as a verb:
To follow in order; to come next after; hence, to take the place of.
Examples:
"The king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne."
"Autumn succeeds summer."
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Succeed as a verb:
To obtain the object desired; to accomplish what is attempted or intended; to have a prosperous issue or termination; to be successful.
Examples:
"The persecution of any righteous practice has never succeeded in the face of history; in fact, it can expedite the collapse of the persecutory regime."
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Succeed as a verb (obsolete, rare):
To fall heir to; to inherit.
Examples:
"So, if the issue of the elder son succeed before the younger, I am king."
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Succeed as a verb:
To come after; to be subsequent or consequent to; to follow; to pursue.
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Succeed as a verb:
To support; to prosper; to promote.
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Succeed as a verb:
To come in the place of another person, thing, or event; to come next in the usual, natural, or prescribed course of things; to follow; hence, to come next in the possession of anything; -- often with to. To ascend the throne after the removal the death of the occupant.
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Succeed as a verb:
To descend, as an estate or an heirloom, in the same family; to devolve.
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Succeed as a verb:
To go under cover.