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Glite Dictionary
to never fail to amuse

to never fail to amuse

1 3.5
To always make people laugh
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : siempre divierte
  • This never fails to amuse me.

Examples

  • The comedian's jokes never fail to amuse the audience during his performances.

  • But this never fails to amuse me.

    Blog text (14)

  • Never fails to amuse her.

    Something's Gotta Give (2003)

  • Her quirky sense of humor never fails to amuse everyone at the office.

  • Even in tough situations, his optimism never fails to amuse his friends.

Antonyms

to bore
15 1.4

To make someone feel tired or not interested by being dull when you speak

How Amusing

to never fail to amuse
1 3.5
delight
184 1.2
to amuse
153 1.4
to entertain
226 2.0
to bore
15 1.4

Surface Forms

never fail to amuse infinitive
never failed to amuse past
never failed to amuse past participle
never failing to amuse present participle
never fails to amuse third person singular

Morphology

never + fail + to + amuse

The phrase is compositionally clear: 'never' (not ever) + 'fail to' (not do / fall short of doing) + 'amuse' (to entertain) gives the meaning 'not ever fail to entertain' → 'always entertain'. This is a regular, predictable English construction (with 'fail to' meaning 'not do') and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should understand it.

Etymology

Never fail to amuse gives a clear picture: imagine someone trying to make others laugh, and the word fail here simply means 'to miss', so if they never fail they never miss the laugh and always amuse people. That's why it means 'to always provide entertainment or make people laugh'.