/fɔːlt/, /fɒlt/, /fɔlt/
OriginFrom Middle English faute, faulte, from Anglo-Norman faute, Old French faute, from Vulgar Latin *fallita (“shortcoming”), feminine of *fallitus, in place of Latin falsus, perfect passive participle of fallō (“deceive”). Displaced native Middle English schuld, schuild (“fault”) (from Old English scyld (“fault”)), Middle English lac (“fault, lack”) (from Middle Dutch lak (“lack, fault”)), Middle English last (“fault, vice”) (from Old Norse lǫstr (“fault, vice, crime”)). Compare French faute (“fault, foul”), Portuguese falta (“lack, shortage”) and Spanish falta (“lack, absence”). More at fail, false.
- Culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
“No, don't blame yourself. It's my fault that we lost the game.”
“I told them the pie was still too hot. If they burn their tongues, that's their fault.”
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
- A failing of character; less severe than a vice.
“Despite all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.”
- A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which increases one's risk of danger or difficulty.
“You're still young, that's your fault.”
- A strongly undesirable variation of food or drink caused by impurity or contamination.
“Cork taint is one of the most recognizable wine faults.”
“The time of greatest prevalence of this microörganism, August and September, agreed in general with the occurrence of this cheese fault. Not a single Cheddar cheese was found which turned blue, and as”
“No common wine fault is likely to cause serious health problems but you won't want to take the tasting much further if the wine smells faulty.”
- obsoleteA point of weakness in something's physical structure.
“As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.”
- A minor offense.
- An illegal serve.
“It is a fault if the ball served drop in the net, or beyond the Service-Line, or if it drop out of Court, or in the wrong Court. A fault may not be taken. After a fault, the Server shall serve again f”
- A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping.
“If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.”
- An exception within a software program or process.
- A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
“That might explain why the last three major earthquakes occurred not at San Andreas faults, where it would seem natural to expect them, but in both adjacent fault groups.”
- An abnormal connection within an electric circuit.
- A loss of the scent being tracked by a hound.
“Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.”
- An intrusion of another material, such as dirt or slate, within a coal seam.
- obsoletewant; lack; absence
“one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend”
- transitiveTo criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
“For that, says he, I ne'er will fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.”
“"There will a team over there [he waves towards York's Rail Operating Centre] like flight engineers, maintaining it and faulting it from a ROC rather than a van by the side of the track."”
- intransitiveTo fracture.
- intransitiveTo commit a mistake or error.
- intransitiveTo undergo a page fault.
Formsfaults(plural) · faults(present, singular, third-person) · faulting(participle, present) · faulted(participle, past) · faulted(past)