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to fall through

to fall through

37 4.1
To fail to happen or be finished as planned
  • phrasal verb
  • /fɔl θru/
translation icon : no llevarse a cabo
  • What? - Looks like the deal fell through.
  • a deal fell through
  • fall through the cracks

All of this, that bad timing, the plans falling through, the approach, the avoidance, the dance.

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Examples

  • - Um, so the place that I was gonna get just fell through.

  • The Dickens deal fell through.

  • Sometimes plans fall through, even when you do everything right.

  • Deal after deal fell through.

  • Well, I did have other plans this summer, but they fell through, so I quit my job and I left my mom a note.

  • High Tone was interested for a while, but that kind of fell through.

  • But then my funding fell through like a week before I was meant to apply for my visa.

  • That agreement fell through and the debt still hasn't been paid.

  • Unfortunately, it now looks like that deal could fall through as Sharp's stock price continues dropping.

    Blog text (12)
  • Sometimes plans fall through, even when you do everything right.

Synonyms

to fail
vsto fall through
898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

is more specific, meaning plans do not happen or finish as intended
to founder
vsto fall through
5 6.8

To fail completely because of problems with plans or projects

may fail without collapsing, by merely not being completed
to miscarry
vsto fall through
2 7.2

To fail to get the result you planned in an attempt or plan

fails by not happening or being completed as intended
to go in the toilet
vsto fall through
  • Informal
1 7.9

To fail completely

can fail without total ruin, simply not occur or finish

Antonyms

846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

362 1.0

To happen in real life, especially a wish or dream

How Likely

to succeed
846 2.0
to go ahead
2.3
to stall
166 4.3
to fall through
37 4.1

Surface Forms

fall through infinitive
falling through present participle
falls through third person singular
fallen through past participle

Morphology

fall + through

The meaning 'to fail to happen or be completed' is loosely connected to 'fall' (something going wrong or collapsing) but is not directly deducible from 'through' as provided; the phrasal-verb sense is a conventionalized extension rather than a straightforward composition. This pattern of particle verbs is partly transparent but variable across languages and contexts, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would likely only partially guess the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb fall through gives a simple picture: something falls and goes through a hole so it never reaches the other side. That's why it now means 'to fail' or 'not happen'.