From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishflunkflunk /flʌŋk/ verb informal especially American English 1 [intransitive, transitive]SEFAIL to fail a test Tony flunked chemistry last semester.2 [transitive]SEFAIL to give someone low marks on a test so that they fail it SYN fail She hadn’t done the work so I flunked her. → flunk out→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
flunk• I flunked, and had to do the test again.• He thought he was going to flunk chemistry, but he got a D.• He was cutting school and flunking classes.• The first two years they basically just try to flunk everybody out.• Yesterday I took my driving test and flunked - for the sixth time.• She didn't do any of the work, so I flunked her.• My worst class was math, and every time we took a test, I was certain I had completely flunked it.• Progressives have the chance to reshape global institutions; they should not flunk it.• But it all went wrong when, some 15 years ago, he flunked math and didn't get into college.• Brant flunked out of college his first year.• The begin-ning of real trouble was flunking the bar exam and receiving, in turn, a reduced salary from my firm.• She flunked the state bar exam four times before she finally passed.• Punitive and retroactive, our decision is to flunk the student, not the school.• Then Pasternak's office called him and told him that he had flunked the test.• And yet Simeon flunked virtually every exam, often by a mile.Origin flunk (1800-1900) Perhaps from flinch + funk “to be afraid (of)” ((18-21 centuries)); → FUNK2 