Phrase guide

words fail someone

phrase · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɜːdz feɪl ˈsʌmwʌn/
  • General-American: /ˈwɝdz feɪl ˈsʌmˌwʌn/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

phrase

Meaning 1

Someone is incapable of describing something with words, especially due to fear, shock, or surprise.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: sanat eivät riitä (kertomaan) — to be incapable of describing something with words
  • Turkish: nutku tutulmak — to be incapable of describing something with words
  • Turkish: ne diyeceğini bilememek — to be incapable of describing something with words
  • Turkish: neye uğradığını şaşırmak — to be incapable of describing something with words
  • Turkish: anlatacak kelime bulamamak — to be incapable of describing something with words
  • Turkish: anlatacak söz bulamamak — to be incapable of describing something with words