Fail
Fail verb - To stop functioning.
Open
Open verb - To change from a closed to an open position.
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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In Pilot Brothers: Theft of the striped elephant, the main characters fail to just open the door to pursue the criminal, and must instead open the fridge.
Source: Solve the Soup Cans - If power is lost to electronically controlled water valves, the valves may either "fail-open" or "fail-closed" (depending on the system) to protect the systems that they service.
Source: Destruction Equals Off-Switch -
There's also a similar puzzle where the door won't open until all nine patches of grass are cut and you fail if it overgrows.
Source: Solve the Soup Cans
Cite this Source
Open and Fail. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/open
Fail & Open. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/open>.
Open or Fail. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/open.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "fail" and "open" have occurred on timeline