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fall short. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
fall short, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
fall short in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Verb
fall 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.
- I did my best, but fell far short of the score cutoff.
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: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
Usually used with preposition of.
Derived terms
Translations
to be less satisfactory than expected; to be inadequate or insufficient
See also
Anagrams