FALL SHORT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fall short mean? 

• FALL SHORT (verb)
  The verb FALL SHORT has 1 sense:

1. fail to meet (expectations or standards)

  Familiarity information: FALL SHORT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FALL SHORT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail to meet (expectations or standards)

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

come short; fall short

Hypernyms (to "fall short" is one way to...):

disappoint; let down (fail to meet the hopes or expectations of)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

Mr. Weston's dining-room does not accommodate more than ten comfortably; and for my part, I would rather, under such circumstances, fall short by two than exceed by two.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He said that about twelve o’clock at noon, as he was looking through his glass, he spied it at a distance, and thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, his own beginning to fall short.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

An award to provide limited support to scientists whose research applications fall short of the institute/center funding cutoff but are at the margin of funding in which high quality grants are not awarded due to lack of funds.

(James A. Shannon Director's Award, NCI Thesaurus)