as in precautions
a measure taken to preclude loss or injury
there are so many fail-safes built into the system that a highly unlikely series of mistakes would have to be made before failure could occur
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fail-safes
The team also developed numerous fail-safes to ensure consistent, trustworthy performance.
—
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Sep. 2016
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Sep. 2016
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fail-safes
Noun
-
Monday night, take precautions by covering outdoor plants or bringing them indoors.—
Callie Zanandrie,
CBS News,
17 May 2026
-
Consider the following individual precautions.—
Sarah Anzlovar,
Verywell Health,
17 May 2026
Noun
-
The surrogacy process has safeguards in place to ensure the safety of all parties involved.—
Ann Marie Luft,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
The report also notes that 10 Republican state attorneys general have urged the SEC to closely examine OpenAI’s disclosures ahead of a potential public offering, while Congress has separately requested information about the company’s safeguards around conflicts of interest.—
Sharon Goldman,
Fortune,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fail-safes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fail-safes. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
