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WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2024fail-safe (fāl′sāf′),USA pronunciation adj., n., v., -safed, -saf•ing. adj. - Electronicspertaining to or noting a mechanism built into a system, as in an early warning system or a nuclear reactor, for insuring safety should the system fail to operate properly.
- Electronicsequipped with a secondary system that insures continued operation even if the primary system fails.
- Military(sometimes cap.) of, pertaining to, or designating a system of coded military controls in which bombers dispatched to a prearranged point as part of a standard operating procedure cannot advance farther without direct orders from a designated authority and cannot have the nuclear warheads they carry armed until they have passed their prearranged point.
- guaranteed to work;
totally reliable:a fail-safe recipe for a cheese soufflé.
n. - Military(sometimes cap.) the point beyond which the bombers cannot go without specific instruction;
the fail-safe point. - something designed to work or function automatically to prevent breakdown of a mechanism, system, or the like.
v.t. - to make fail-safe.
- apparently from verb, verbal phrase to fail safe(ly) 1945–50
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers:: fail-safe adj - designed to return to a safe condition in the event of a failure or malfunction
- unlikely to fail; foolproof
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