failing

failing
noun
ADJECTIVE
great, major, serious (esp. BrE), worst

Vanity is her worst failing.

common, human

the very human failing of wanting to tell other people what to do

moral
personal
intelligence

an official report into intelligence failings

VERB + FAILING
have

We all have our failings.

expose, highlight, identify

The investigation exposed huge failings in the system of medicines regulation.

acknowledge, recognize
address

The committee is being urged to address failings in the law.


Collocations dictionary. 2013.

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  • Failing — Fail ing, n. 1. 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. Tennyson …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • failing — [adj] not well, weak declining, defeated, deficient, faint, feeble, inadequate, insufficient, scant, scanty, scarce, short, shy, unavailing, unprosperous, unsuccessful, unsufficient, unthriving, vain, wanting; concepts 485,489 Ant. healthy, ok,… …   New thesaurus

  • failing — [fāl′iŋ] n. 1. a failure 2. a slight fault or defect; weakness prep. without; lacking [failing a good voter turnout, our candidate will lose] SYN. FAULT …   English World dictionary

  • failing — I noun asthenia, atony, blemish, cachexia, collapse, debilitation, decadence, decay, decline, decrepitude, defeat, deficiency, delinquency, disadvantage, failure, fallibility, fault, fiasco, flaw, foible, frailty, imperfection, inadequacy,… …   Law dictionary

  • failing — defect, fault, 1580s, verbal noun from FAIL (Cf. fail) …   Etymology dictionary

  • failing — n frailty, foible, *fault, vice Analogous words: *blemish, flaw, defect: weakness, infirmity (see corresponding adjectives at WEAK) Antonyms: perfection (in concrete sense) Contrasted words: *excellence, merit, virtue …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • failing — ► NOUN ▪ a weakness in a person s character. ► PREPOSITION ▪ if not …   English terms dictionary

  • failing — fail|ing1 [ feılıŋ ] noun count a fault or a weak point that makes someone or something less effective: He had his failings, but he was basically a good man. the failings of the criminal justice system failing fail|ing 2 [ feılıŋ ] adjective no… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • failing — I UK [ˈfeɪlɪŋ] / US noun [countable] Word forms failing : singular failing plural failings a fault or a weak point that makes someone or something less effective He had his failings, but he was basically a good man. the failings of the criminal… …   English dictionary

  • failing — failingly, adv. failingness, n. /fay ling/, n. 1. an act or instance of failing; failure: His failing is due to general incompetence. 2. a defect or fault; shortcoming; weakness: His lack of knowledge is a grave failing. prep. 3. in the absence… …   Universalium

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