failing

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.lɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -eɪlɪŋ

failing

1. present participle and gerund of fail
   • 1951 January, H. A. Vallance, “Kyle of Lochalsh Revisited”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:

     As we breasted the first summit, the precipitous mass of the Raven's Rock, towering some 250 ft. above the railway, looked grim and forbidding in the failing light, and distant Ben Wyves was shrouded in mist.

failing (plural failings)

1. weakness; defect

   His worst failing is his temper.

   • 2023 October 18, “Network News: Carmont: NR pays nearly £1m in out-of-court settlements”, in RAIL, number 994, page 15:

     At the High Court in Aberdeen in September, NR pleaded guilty to a series of failings, including failing to tell the driver that it was unsafe to drive the train at the 75mph line speed.

failing

1. If what follows is not possible; without.

   A large proportion of the females employed in other firms are said to have signified their intention of going on strike, failing a settlement.

• “failing”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.