fall behind
To be late (for a regular event)
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I always fall behind when I miss class.”
“If you do not finish your daily tasks, you will quickly fall behind on the project.”
“Because he struggled to grasp the complex material, he began to fall behind his peers, eventually requiring extra tutoring to catch up.”
- 01
catch a falling knife
To buy a financial instrument whose price is falling rapidly.
- 02
fall apart
To be emotionally in crisis.
- 03
fall around
To fall over continually, especially through drunkenness, clumsiness, or incompetence.
- 04
fall asleep
To be affected by paresthesia; to go numb.
- 05
fall at the last hurdle
To fail near the end of an activity, a project, etc.
- 06
fall between the cracks
To wind up in an unexpected situation which is, inadvertently, invisible to or not handled by whatever process one had hoped to be subject to; to be overlooked.
- 07
fall between two stools
To fit into neither of two categories and, hence, be neglected or fail.
- 08
fall by the wayside
To fail to be completed, particularly for lack of interest; to be left out, to suffer from neglect.
Last updated August 10, 2026