fall shy of (something)

fall shy of (something)

To fail to meet or reach some goal, standard, expectation, etc. The phone falls shy of the company's usual quality, feeling a bit cheap as a result. The athlete had an impressive performance on the field, but she fell just shy of first place. It's the third quarter in a row in which our sales have fallen shy of expectations. If things don't improve soon, I don't know how we'll be able to keep going.

See also: fall, of, shy

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.