All articles starting with F
15,892 articles
Fail-safe
Fail-safe, also called a fail-safe device, describes a design in which a failure places a system in its safest state rather than creating a hazard.
Failan (파이란)
Failan (파이란) is a 2001 South Korean drama by Song Hae-sung, adapted from Jiro Asada's novella Love Letter, starring Choi Min-sik and Cecilia Cheung as a paper-married couple who never meet; it won Blue Dragon, Grand Bell, and Deauville awards.
Failed at Math(s)
Failed at Math(s) is the 2023 debut album by British band Panchiko, released May 5 after their rediscovery via the D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L EP; eight tracks, 26 minutes, self-produced, four new and four reworked 1997-2001 songs.
Failed attempted abortion
Failed attempted abortion (ICD-10 O07; ICD-11 JA00.3; French: Echec d'une tentative d'avortement) is a classification category for an abortion attempt that fails, leaving ongoing pregnancy or retained products, with complication-based subdivisions.
Failed induction of labour
Failed induction of labour (ICD-11 JB01) is an unsuccessful attempt to stimulate contractions before spontaneous labour. No accepted definition exists; a 2025 review found 112 definitions in 96 studies, with cervical status the main predictor.
Failed or difficult intubation
Failed or difficult intubation: inability to place a tracheal tube, or needing multiple attempts (difficult airway, CICO). Predictors include prior difficult intubation, Mallampati 3-4, short thyromental distance; managed by DAS/ASA algorithms.
Failed state
Failed state: a state unable to perform basic security and development functions or control its territory. Term coined by Helman and Ratner (1992); largely replaced since 2004 by "fragile state", though no agreed definition exists.
Failed supernova
A failed supernova, or unnova, is the core collapse of a massive star that forms a black hole without a luminous supernova, so the star vanishes.
Faille
Faille is a ribbed woven fabric, typically light silk; the French word also denotes a geological fault along which rock blocks move, as in earthquakes or creep.
Failover
Failover is the automatic switch of operation from a failed primary component to a redundant standby one, so a service keeps running without human intervention; the same switch done by an operator is called switchover.
Failure
Failure in psychology: falling short of an adopted standard of excellence. Covers Weiner's attribution dimensions, learned helplessness, motivational orientation, goal orientation, mindset evidence, and goal disengagement.
Failure (band)
Failure is a Los Angeles alternative rock/space rock trio formed in 1990 by Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards, with Kellii Scott. Known for Fantastic Planet (1996), disbanded 1997, reunited 2013-2014, seventh album Location Lost (2026) features Hayley Williams.
Failure in time
Failure in time (FIT) is a unit of failure rate in electronics reliability engineering, defined as one failure per billion device-hours and codified in the JEDEC standard JESD85.
Failure mode and effects analysis
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is a systematic method for identifying how an item or process might fail, first formalized by the US military in 1949.
Failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis
Failure mode, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) is a bottom-up reliability method, extending FMEA, that identifies failure modes and ranks them by severity and occurrence.
Failure of consideration
Failure of consideration, or failure of basis, is a legal concept in contract law where a valid contract becomes unenforceable because the consideration is no longer valuable.
Failure of the West Route Army
The Failure of the West Route Army (西路军失败) was the near-annihilation of about 21,800 Red Army troops under Xu Xiangqian in the Hexi Corridor, October 1936 to March 1937.
Failure rate
Failure rate, also called the hazard rate, is the frequency at which engineered items fail per unit time, the fundamental quantity of reliability engineering for predicting how long systems function.
Failure to Launch
Failure to Launch is a 2006 Paramount romantic comedy directed by Tom Dey, starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker; parents hire an interventionist to push their 35-year-old son out of the house. It grossed $130.2 million worldwide but scored 23% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Failure to thrive
Failure to thrive (FTT), now termed faltering weight or faltering growth, is subnormal weight gain in infancy or childhood; affects about 5-10% of primary care children, usually multifactorial, renamed by the 2026 AAP/NASPGHAN guideline.
Failure to thrive in newborn
Failure to thrive in newborn (ICD-11 KD32.4), now called growth faltering or faltering weight, is slower than expected newborn weight gain, usually from inadequate caloric intake; defined by z-score cutoffs and treated with calorie-dense feeding.
Faina Melnik
Faina Melnik (Фаїна Мельник), Soviet discus thrower, 1972 Olympic champion (66.62 m), 11 world records 1971-76, first woman over 70 m (70.50 m, 1976); later dentist and coach of Lisovskaya and Krivelyova.
Faint young Sun paradox
The faint young Sun paradox is the conflict between a Sun 20 to 25% fainter on early Earth and geological evidence that liquid water existed.
Fainting goat
Fainting goat, or Myotonic goat (Tennessee Fainting, Wooden Leg, Stiff-leg goat), an American meat goat breed from 1880s Tennessee whose myotonia congenita, a CLCN1 chloride-channel mutation, makes muscles stiffen when startled; now Recovering on the Livestock Conservancy list.
Faiq Bolkiah
Faiq Jefri Bolkiah, Bruneian winger, nephew of Brunei's Sultan, ex-Chelsea and Leicester academy player, Ratchaburi FC and Brunei international, famous for the unverified "richest footballer" label.
Faiq Hassan
Faiq Hassan (فائق حسن) was an Iraqi painter and educator called the father of Iraqi modern art, known for his depictions of villagers, workers, and horse riders.
Fair
Fair: a periodic, legally franchised gathering of buyers and sellers at long intervals, distinct from the weekly market; from Latin feria. Covers medieval fairs (Champagne, Stourbridge), trade fairs, and agricultural county fairs.
Fair catch
Fair catch: unhindered catch of a kicked ball in American football after a valid signal, ending the play and protecting the receiver; NFL and NCAA rules, penalties, fair catch kick, and 2023 kickoff safety rule.
Fair catch kick
A fair catch kick is a rare scoring play in American football: an uncontested kick for a 3-point field goal taken from the spot of a fair catch.
Fair clustering
Fair clustering is a family of machine learning algorithms that partition data into clusters while satisfying fairness constraints, such as approximate demographic balance between protected groups.