fall short
English
editPronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /fɔl ʃoɹt/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /foːl ʃoːt/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
editfall short (third-person singular simple present falls short, present participle falling short, simple past fell short, past participle fallen short)
- (idiomatic) To be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient.
- 1946 July and August, “The Royston Accident, G.N.R., July 3, 1866”, in Railway Magazine, page 216:
- Ample proof that the maintenance of locomotives and track in the mid-Victorian era sometimes fell far short of present-day standards is afforded by an accident which occurred on July 3, 1866, near Royston, on the Cambridge branch of the Great Northern Railway.
- 2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Sweden 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- They have fallen short on so many occasions that an England team who rises to the occasion are worthy of the highest praise.
- 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 245c:
- But if being is not a whole through being affected by that affection, and there is such a thing as the whole itself, it follows that being falls short of itself.
Usage notes
editUsually used with preposition of.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editto be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient
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