Word Study
failing
CIDE DICTIONARY
failing, n.
- 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." [1913 Webster] - The act of becoming insolvent of bankrupt.
Syn. -- See Fault.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
failing, n. & prep.
--n. a fault or shortcoming; a weakness, esp. in character.
--prep. in default of; if not.
--n. a fault or shortcoming; a weakness, esp. in character.
--prep. in default of; if not.
THESAURUS
failing
abortive, arrested, bad habit, besetting sin, blemish, blind spot, bootless, bug, cachectic, callow, catch, comedown, coming apart, crack, cracking, crumbling, debasement, debilitated, decadence, decadency, decadent, declension, declination, decline, declining, defect, defection, defective, deficiency, deficient, deformation, degeneracy, degenerate, degenerateness, degeneration, degradation, demotion, depravation, depravedness, depreciation, derogation, descent, deteriorating, deterioration, devolution, disintegrating, downtrend, downturn, downward mobility, downward trend, drained, draining, drawback, drooping, drop, dwindling, dying, ebb, ebbing, effete, effeteness, embryonic, enervated, exhausted, fading, failed, failure, failure of nerve, fall, falling, falling-off, fault, faute, feeble, flagging, flaw, foible, found wanting, fragmenting, frail, frailty, fruitless, futile, going to pieces, healthless, hole, hypoplastic, immature, imperfect, imperfection, in arrear, in arrears, in default, in default of, in poor health, in short supply, inadequacy, inadequate, incompetent, incomplete, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, infant, infirm, infirmity, insufficient, invalid, involution, kink, lacking, lame, languishing, lapse, little problem, loss of tone, manque, marcescent, miscarried, miscarrying, missing, moral flaw, moribund, needing, not enough, of no effect, pale, part, partial, patchy, peaked, peaky, pining, problem, reduced, reduced in health, regression, regressive, retrocession, retrogradation, retrograde, retrogression, retrogressive, rift, run-down, sans, scant, scanty, scarce, scrappy, short, shortcoming, shriveling, shy, sickly, sinking, sketchy, sliding, slippage, slipping, slump, slumping, snag, something missing, stickit, stillborn, subsiding, successless, tabetic, taint, too little, underdeveloped, undeveloped, unequal to, unfortunate, unhealthy, unqualified, unsatisfactory, unsatisfying, unsound, unsuccessful, unsufficing, useless, valetudinarian, valetudinary, vice, vulnerable place, wane, waning, wanting, wasting, weak link, weak point, weak side, weakened, weakly, weakness, wilting, with low resistance, withering, without, worseningROGET THESAURUS
failing
Insufficiency
N insufficiency, inadequacy, inadequateness, incompetence, deficiency, imperfection, shortcoming, paucity, stint, scantiness, none to spare, bare subsistence, scarcity, dearth, want, need, lack, poverty, exigency, inanition, starvation, famine, drought, dole, mite, pittance, short allowance, short commons, half rations, banyan day, emptiness, poorness, depletion, vacancy, flaccidity, ebb tide, low water, a beggarly account of empty boxes, indigence, insolvency, drain of resources, impoverish, stint, put on short allowance, do insufficiently, scotch the snake, Adj, insufficient, inadequate, too little, not enough, unequal to, incompetent, weighed in the balance and found wanting, perfunctory, deficient, wanting imperfect, ill-furnished, ill-provided, ill- stored, ill-off, slack, at a low ebb, empty, vacant, bare, short of, out of, destitute of, devoid of, bereft of, denuded of, dry, drained, unprovided, unsupplied, unfurnished, unreplenished, unfed, unstored, untreasured, empty-handed, meager, poor, thin, scrimp, sparing, spare, stinted, starved, starving, halfstarved, famine-stricken, famished, jejune, scant, scarce, not to be had, not to be had for love or money, not to be had at any price, scurvy, stingy, at the end of one's tether, without resources, in want, in debt, insufficiently, in default of, for want of, failing, semper avarus eget.Incompleteness
N incompleteness, deficiency, short measure, shortcoming, insufficiency, imperfection, immaturity, half measures, defect, deficit, defalcation, omission, caret, shortage, interval, break, noncompletion, missing link, missing piece, missing part, gap, hole, lacuna, incomplete, imperfect, unfinished, uncompleted &c (complete), defective, deficient, wanting, lacking, failing, in default, in arrear, short of, hollow, meager, lame, halfand-half, perfunctory, sketchy, crude, mutilated, garbled, docked, lopped, truncated, in progress, in hand, going on, proceeding, incompletely, by halves, caetera desunt, caret.Failure
N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.Vice
N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.Guilt
N guilt, guiltiness, culpability, criminality, criminousness, deviation from rectitude, sinfulness, misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed, malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression, dereliction, delinquency, indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas, peccadillo, flaw, blot, omission, failing, failure, break, bad break!, capital crime, delictum, offense, trespass, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision, malefaction, malfeasance, malversation, crime, felony, enormity, atrocity, outrage, deadly sin, mortal sin, deed without a name, corpus delicti, guilty, to blame, culpable, peccable, in fault, at fault, censurable, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, illaudable, weighed in the balance and found wanting, exceptionable, in flagrante delicto, red-handed, in the very act, with one's hand in the cookie jar, cui prodest scelus in fecit, culpam paena premit comes, O would the deed were good!, responsibility prevents crimes se judice nemo noce, so many laws argues so many sins.For further exploring for "failing" in Webster Dictionary Online