flunk
/flʌŋk
/verb [with object] informal, chiefly North American
1Fail to reach the required standard in (an examination, test, or course of study): I flunked biology in the tenth grade...
- We presume that the baggage handlers and screeners flunked the test.
- I would sooner or later flunk my tests and exams.
- The investigation thus far flunks the smell test.
1.1Judge (an examination candidate) to have failed to reach the required standard.For outbursts like these, Ed's teachers eventually flunked him, so he hauled up to Johannesburg and trained as an industrial radiographer, testing welds in an oil refinery....
- I tell Rufus McClure about this and he chuckles, ‘Many an English teacher would flunk Hemingway.’
- So the teacher said - the English teacher said she would flunk me if I didn't take drama, because she thought I had to overcome my shyness.
1.2 [no object] (flunk out) (Of a student) leave or be dismissed from school or college as a result of failing to reach the required standard: Tip flunked out of Caltech and moved back home...
- Many students flunked out of college trying to get edit decision lists to play on their roommate's computer.
- A student who was flunking out of school, he insisted the shootings were not about revenge.
- And one student who flunked out after spending too much time on the Internet did return last September.
Origin
Early 19th century (in the general sense 'back down, fail utterly'; originally US): perhaps related to funk1 or to US flink 'be a coward', perhaps a variant of flinch.