Dictionary  fail-safePronunciation: (fāl'sāf"), [key] —adj., n., v., -safed, -saf•ing. —adj. 1. Electronics.pertaining to or noting a mechanism built into a system, as in an early warning system or a nuclear reactor, for insuring safety should the system fail to operate properly. 2. equipped with a secondary system that insures continued operation even if the primary system fails. 3. (sometimes cap.) of, pertaining to, or designating a system of coded military controls in which bombers dispatched to a prearranged point as part of a standard operating procedure cannot advance farther without direct orders from a designated authority and cannot have the nuclear warheads they carry armed until they have passed their prearranged point. 4. guaranteed to work; totally reliable: a fail-safe recipe for a cheese soufflé. —n. 1. (sometimes cap.) the point beyond which the bombers cannot go without specific instruction; the fail-safe point. 2. something designed to work or function automatically to prevent breakdown of a mechanism, system, or the like. —v.t. to make fail-safe. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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