What's the difference between fail and lack?

Fail


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To be wanting; to fall short; to be or become deficient in any measure or degree up to total absence; to cease to be furnished in the usual or expected manner, or to be altogether cut off from supply; to be lacking; as, streams fail; crops fail.
  • (v. i.) To be affected with want; to come short; to lack; to be deficient or unprovided; -- used with of.
  • (v. i.) To fall away; to become diminished; to decline; to decay; to sink.
  • (v. i.) To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become weaker; as, a sick man fails.
  • (v. i.) To perish; to die; -- used of a person.
  • (v. i.) To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation.
  • (v. i.) To come short of a result or object aimed at or desired ; to be baffled or frusrated.
  • (v. i.) To err in judgment; to be mistaken.
  • (v. i.) To become unable to meet one's engagements; especially, to be unable to pay one's debts or discharge one's business obligation; to become bankrupt or insolvent.
  • (v. t.) To be wanting to ; to be insufficient for; to disappoint; to desert.
  • (v. t.) To miss of attaining; to lose.
  • (v. i.) Miscarriage; failure; deficiency; fault; -- mostly superseded by failure or failing, except in the phrase without fail.
  • (v. i.) Death; decease.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Intrathecal injection of zopiclone potentiated morphine antinociception, while the intracerebroventricular injection of zopiclone failed to enhance morphine antinociception and the intracerebroventricular injection of flumazepil to antagonize the intraperitoneal-zopiclone-induced increase in morphine antinociception.
  • (2) However, ticks, which failed to finish their feeding and represent a disproportionately great part of the whole parasite's population, die together with them and the parasitic system quickly restores its stability.
  • (3) The inquiry found the law enforcement agencies routinely fail to record the professions of those whose communications data records they access under Ripa.
  • (4) It is suggested that the normal cyclical release of LH is inhibited in PCO disease by a negative feedback by androgens to the hypothalamus or the pituitary, and that wedge resection should be reserved for patients in whom other forms of treatment have failed.
  • (5) Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography failed to demonstrate any bile ducts in the right postero-lateral segments of the liver, the "naked segment sign".
  • (6) Several efforts to extradite Polanski to California have failed.
  • (7) Administration of aminonucleoside and daunomycin produced proteinuria but did not cause a decrease in lipid P. Anticollagen and anti-lymphocyte sera that attached to the basement membrane but failed to produce proteinuria, also failed to affect the phospholipid content.
  • (8) An official inquiry into the Rotherham abuse scandal blamed failings by Rotherham council and South Yorkshire police.
  • (9) Amid the acrimony of the failed debate on the Malaysia Agreement, something was missed or forgotten: many in the left had changed their mind.
  • (10) Four of the nine patients failed to show any clinical or hematological improvement.
  • (11) In cases in which CT was also performed, it revealed corresponding hypodensities in two infarctions, but failed to reveal the foci of gliosis (or noncavital infarction), demyelination, or brain cyst.
  • (12) Even in the failed cases, 25-42% of subjects considered the treatment as good.
  • (13) Dzeko he has failed to hold down a starting berth since his £27m move in January 2011.
  • (14) Prothrombin isolation on DEAE Sephadex failed to separate the abnormal population (prothrombin Clamart) from the normal one.
  • (15) The starting point is the idea that the current system, because it works against biodiversity but fails to increase productivity, is broken.
  • (16) Other than failing to get a goal, I couldn’t ask for anything more.” From Lambert’s perspective there was an element of misfortune about the first and third goals, with Willian benefitting from handy ricochets on both occasions.
  • (17) In contrast, albino rats and rabbits failed to succumb to overt disease by subcutaneous and intraperitoneal routes of inoculation.
  • (18) It was recently demonstrated that MRL-lpr lymphoid cells transferred into lethally irradiated MRL- +mice unexpectedly failed to induce the early onset of lupus syndrome and massive lymphadenopathy of the donor, instead they caused a severe wasting syndrome resembling graft-vs-host (GvH) disease.
  • (19) In the controlled wound care group, only three ulcers in three patients achieved complete healing; the remaining 24 ulcers in 20 patients failed to achieve even 50% healing in the stipulated 3-month period.
  • (20) The former Stoke City manager Pulis had reportedly been left frustrated by the club failing to push through deals for various players he targeted to strengthen the Palace squad.

Lack


Definition:

  • (n.) Blame; cause of blame; fault; crime; offense.
  • (n.) Deficiency; want; need; destitution; failure; as, a lack of sufficient food.
  • (v. t.) To blame; to find fault with.
  • (v. t.) To be without or destitute of; to want; to need.
  • (v. i.) To be wanting; often, impersonally, with of, meaning, to be less than, short, not quite, etc.
  • (v. i.) To be in want.
  • (interj.) Exclamation of regret or surprise.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here we have asked whether protection from blood-borne antigens afforded by the blood-brain barrier is related to the lack of MHC expression.
  • (2) tRNA from mutant IB13 lacks 5-methylaminomethyl-2-thio-uridine in vivo due to a permanently nonfunctional methyltransferase.
  • (3) BL6 mouse melanoma cells lack detectable H-2Kb and had low levels of expression of H-2Db Ag.
  • (4) Treatment termination due to lack of efficacy or combined insufficient therapeutic response and toxicity proved to be influenced by the initial disease activity and by the rank order of prescription.
  • (5) In the past, the interpretation of the medical findings was hampered by a lack of knowledge of normal anatomy and genital flora in the nonabused prepubertal child.
  • (6) A diplomatic source said the killing appeared particularly unusual because of Farooq lack of recent political activity: "He was lying low in the past two years.
  • (7) The present study examined whether the lack of chronic hemodynamic effects of ANP in control rats was due to changes in vascular reactivity to the peptide.
  • (8) Since it was established, it has stoked controversy about contemporary art, though in recent years it has been more notable for its lack of sensationalism.
  • (9) Inadequate treatment, caused by a lack of drugs and poorly trained medical attendants, is also a major problem.
  • (10) Because of the small number of patients reported in the world literature and lack of controlled studies, the treatment of small cell carcinoma of the larynx remains controversial; this retrospective analysis suggests that combination chemotherapy plus radiation offers the best chance for cure.
  • (11) I would immediately look askance at anyone who lacks the last and possesses the first.
  • (12) The detection of these antibodies is difficult owing to the lack of standardization and of specificity of the laboratory tests.
  • (13) Core enzyme, lacking omega subunit, catalyzed this reaction at a rate less than 1% that of holoenzyme.
  • (14) But not only did it post a larger loss than expected, Amazon also projected 7% to 18% revenue growth over the busiest shopping period of the year, a far cry from the 20%-plus pace that had convinced investors to overlook its persistent lack of profit in the past.
  • (15) Urine specimens from patient REE also contained a light chain fragment that lacked the first (amino-terminal) 85 residues of the native light chain but otherwise was identical in sequence to the light chain REE.
  • (16) Thus the failure to raise anti-Id with internal image characteristics may provide an explanation for the lack of anti-gp120 activity reported in anti-Id antisera raised to multiple anti-CD4 antibodies.
  • (17) His walkout reportedly meant his fellow foreign affairs select committee members could not vote since they lacked a quorum.
  • (18) In South Africa, health risks associated with exposure to toxic waste sites need to be viewed in the context of current community health concerns, competing causes of disease and ill-health, and the relative lack of knowledge about environmental contamination and associated health effects.
  • (19) The functional capacity to present antigens to T cells was lacking in normal resting B cells, but was acquired following LK treatment.
  • (20) These findings indicate an association between HLA-B7 and ankylosing spondylitis in American blacks and suggest that these patients who lack B27 but possess B7 represent a subgroup of patients with this disease.