autofail

English

Etymology

From auto- +‎ fail.

Noun

autofail (uncountable)

1. (informal) An automatic failure.
   • 2012 July 2, Playa, “[40k] [v6] First Impressions”, in rec.games.miniatures.warhammer‎^[1] (Usenet):

     No voluntary autofail of Morale checks!

   • 2016, Alissa Trotz, Kiran Mirchandani, Iman Khan, “Growing Downhill? Contestations of Sovereignty and the Creation of Itinerant Workers in Guyanese Call Centres”, in Kiran Mirchandani, Winifred R. Poster, editors, Borders in Service: Enactments of Nationhood in Transnational Call Centres, Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y., London: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 77:

     For Marlia, customer feedback can result in an "autofail" or an immediate dismissal for the day: "Customers make you go home because when you call the customer back, they say, 'I don't like this person and I'm giving them 1.' If you give them 1, it's a low score. They pull you off the phone."

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:autofail.

Further reading

• Paul McFedries (1996–2025) “autofail”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited.