fall short of

fall short of (something)

To fail to meet or reach something, usually a goal, standard, or requirement. The phone falls quite short of the company's usual quality, feeling a bit cheap as a result. Unfortunately, your application fell short of the requirements for entry, so it has been denied. The company fell short of their quarterly targets for the third time in a row.
See also: fall, of, short
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

fall short of

Prove inadequate or insufficient. For example, His skills fell short of the required standard. [Late 1500s]
See also: fall, of, short
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • fall short
  • fall short of (something)
  • fall short of something
  • pass muster
  • pass muster, to
  • come up to standards
  • stop at
  • stop at (something)
  • fall flat
  • take a gamble
References in periodicals archive
At low values of the steadystate nominal interest rate, this latter property dominates the stimulative properties that accompany continued loosening in policy when inflation and output fall short of their objectives because the ELB limits accommodation and the period after an ELB episode is followed by a pronounced tightening in the monetary stance.
At the June meeting, Toshikatsu Fukuma proposed reducing the target to a 27 trillion to 32 trillion yen range and removing the phrase that the BOJ could allow the current account balance to temporarily fall short of the target range, according to the minutes of the meeting.
The group warned sales in the year to May 29 would fall short of last year's pounds 151.8m, although still comfortably exceed the pounds 129m of 2003.
The reason is that qualified Texas students who fall short of the 10 percent cut believe they won't be able to get into the state's top schools.
Markham notes one possible remedy to the situation is to adopt a program that promotes greater workforce participation at all ages The report indicates that Canada's activity rates fall short of rates of the top five OECD countries for every age and gender group, but most noticeably among older workers age groups of 55 years or more.
In breaking the logjam, the new Brazilian president will meet, or fall short of, the enormous expectations surrounding his administration.
Full-year leasing appears likely to fall short of 10 million SF for the first time in recent memory.
Scientists in Ireland report that a new brain-imaging technique can supply proof of Parkinson's disease in people whose symptoms fall short of the standard definition of the disease.
Another software product, AT&T's Privacy Bird, enables Internet users to set privacy preferences and receive visual and audio cues when they visit Web sites that meet, exceed, or fall short of their privacy parameters.
Japan's local tax revenues are likely to fall short of their expected levels in fiscal 2001 for the fifth consecutive year of such shortfalls, government officials said Tuesday.
Total wheat production is expected to fall short of 2 billion bushels for the first time in a decade.
He said more than 70% of major companies in Japan fall short of the legal employment ratio.
Although several stories fall short of Taylor's ambitious goal of "redefining black sexuality," with images of the willingly subjugated, or consciously unconscious, "man-at-any-cost" woman or, equally troublesome, the sister finding sexual empowerment in the arms of a white man (in a book of black erotica), they are countered by other tales that do fulfill Taylor's vision.
The revised manual also puts states in the hot seat by establishing sanctions to punish state survey agencies that fall short of HCFA's enforcement expectations.
Corporate sponsorship revenue for JASA, which governs Japan's amateur sports, is forecast to fall short of the original target by 62 million yen, while a 19 million yen shortage is also seen in public donations.