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Glite Dictionary
to never fail to

to never fail to

14 2.7
Always make the same thing happen
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : no dejar de
  • The power of electricity never fails to leave me electrified.

Unlike a human being, he never fails to utter what he understands.

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Examples

  • -Robert, you never fail to amaze me.

    Eraser (1996)

  • But for me, it never fails to add something new, fresh, and vital.

    Academic text (2010)

  • You never fail to remind me of this.

    Samson (2018)

  • My pair never fails to impress me.

  • The shape of a man never fails to amaze you.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The look of awe and wonder never fails to make me smile.

    Blog text (5)

  • But he's this totally amazing person who never fails to make me laugh.

    Blog text (7)

  • Although I frequently run into this attitude during my lessons, it never fails to astonish me.

  • He's such a cheeky little boy who never fails to make his Papa and Mama laugh and smile.

    Blog text (21)

  • At the end of every performance, the orchestra never fails to receive a standing ovation.

Synonyms

to never disappoint
vsto never fail to
7 2.9

To always meet or go beyond what people expect

is broader, saying something always happens or always achieves its intended result

Antonyms

to fail
898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

How Certain

to never fail to
14 2.7
usually
∞ 1.0
sometimes
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

never + fail + to

The sense 'always do / always succeed in doing something' follows directly from combining 'never' (not ever) with 'fail' (not succeed) plus the infinitive marker 'to' — i.e. 'not ever fail to [do X]' = 'always do X' or 'always succeed in doing X'. This is a regular compositional negation pattern found across languages and uses common vocabulary and grammar, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase never fail to gives a simple image: imagine a trusted clock that never fails to chime on the hour. So, when you hear never fail to, it means 'always' or 'it always happens'.