Fail
Fail verb - To stop functioning.
Work at
Work at verb - To exert effort in order to do, make, or perform something.
Both terms in one sentence
- To a lesser extent, Starfire's powers are also emotionally based and thus can fail to work at unfortunate times.
- As it happens, this Trope is Older Than Steam: Every firearm made up until the advent of percussion ignition would often misfire in normal conditions, or fail to work at all in bad weather.
Source: Reliably Unreliable Guns - And sometimes a spell or magic artifact will appear to work powerful, genuine magic, only to completely fail to work at all later.
Source: Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
Cite this Source
Work at and Fail. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/work_at
Fail & Work at. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/work_at>.
Work at or Fail. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/fail/work_at.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "fail" and "work at" have occurred on timeline