without fail

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without fail

1. (idiomatic) Certainly; by all means; as a matter of importance.

   You will report to the police every week without fail.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 30:8:

     And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 149:

     "Tuesday by all means." "Tuesday, then, without fail."

2. Inevitably.

• “without fail”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “without fail” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “without fail”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “without fail” (US) / “without fail” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.