fall behind

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

fall behind (third-person singular simple present falls behind, present participle falling behind, simple past fell behind, past participle fallen behind)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fall,‎ behind.
2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be late (for a regular event)

   You're falling behind with the rent.

3. (intransitive) To be progressively below average in performance.

   You could lose your job if you keep falling behind with your work.

   It's not like John to fall behind in maths.

4. (transitive and intransitive) to fail to keep up (with)

Translations

to be late

Arabic: تَأَخَّرَ (taʔaḵḵara) Azerbaijani: gecikmək Chinese: Mandarin: 遲到 / 迟到 (zh) (chídào) Czech: opozdit se pf Finnish: jäädä jälkeen, olla myöhässä French: être en retard German: sich verspäten (de), zu spät sein (de) Ido: tardeskar (io) Japanese: 遅れる (ja) (おくれる, okureru) Korean: 늦다 (ko) (neutda) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: dereng bûn (ku), paşve man (ku), paş ketin Polish: spóźniać się (pl) Portuguese: atrasar (pt) Russian: опа́здывать (ru) impf (opázdyvatʹ), опозда́ть (ru) pf (opozdátʹ) Spanish: atrasar (es)

to be below average in performance

Azerbaijani: geridə qalmaq Chinese: Mandarin: 落後 / 落后 (zh) (luòhòu) Czech: zaostávat impf Finnish: jäädä jälkeen Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: paşve man (ku), paş ketin Russian: отстава́ть (ru) impf (otstavátʹ), отста́ть (ru) pf (otstátʹ) Swedish: hamna på efterkälken, sacka (sv)

to fail to keep up

Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: paşve man (ku), paş ketin Maori: komutu