fault
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɔːlt/
ipa: /fɒlt/
ipa: /fɔlt/
ipa: /fɑlt/
ipa: [fɒːlt]
rhymes: -ɔːlt
rhymes: -ɒlt
Forms: form: faults
Etymology: From 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.
Senses: examples: text: No, don't blame yourself. It's my fault that we lost the game.
text: I told them the pie was still too hot. If they burn their tongues, that's their fault.
text: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a note found at the scene addressed to Ms. Spade's 13-year-old daughter indicated, among other things, that what had happened was not the child’s fault.
ref: 2018 June 5, Jonah Engel Bromwich, Vanessa Friedman, Matthew Schneier, “Kate Spade, whose handbags carried women into adulthood, is dead at 55”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2018:
text: How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault
ref: 2020, Body Count, “Point the Finger”:
qualifier: typically uncountable
glosses: Culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
examples: text: Despite all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.
glosses: A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A failing of character; less severe than a vice.
qualifier: morality
examples: text: You're still young, that's your fault.
glosses: A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which increases one's risk of danger or difficulty.
synonyms: vulnerability
examples: text: Cork taint is one of the most recognizable wine faults.
text: 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 the iron content of Cheddar cheese was low the author regards this as supporting his conclusion that iron is the cause of the fault.
ref: 1891, T.J. Klaverweiden, “The cause of blue spots in cheese”, in Milch Zeitung, volume 23, number 35, pages 558-560; republished as Experiment station record, volume 25, United States Office of Experiment Stations, 1896, page 482:
text: 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.
ref: 2003, Godfrey Spence, Wine tasting, page 5:
glosses: A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A strongly undesirable variation of food or drink caused by impurity or contamination.
examples: text: As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
glosses: A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A point of weakness in something's physical structure.
glosses: A mistake or error.
A minor offense.
examples: text: 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 from the same Court from which he served that fault.
ref: 1879, Julian Marshall, Lawn-tennis: With the Laws Adopted by the M. C. C., and A. E. C. & L. T. C., and Badminton, page 8:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
tennis
glosses: A mistake or error.
An illegal serve.
examples: text: If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.
topics: equestrianism
hobbies
horses
lifestyle
pets
sports
glosses: A mistake or error.
A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: A mistake or error.
An exception within a software program or process.
hyponyms: double fault
page fault
segmentation fault
triple fault
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2003, Alexandre A. Soloviev, Vladimir Isaakovich Kelis-Borok, Nonlinear Dynamics of the Lithosphere and Earthquake Prediction, page 32:
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
hyponyms: normal fault
reverse fault
strike-slip fault
thrust fault
transform fault
topics: engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
technology
glosses: A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
An abnormal connection within an electric circuit.
hyponyms: arc fault
examples: text: Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.
ref: 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC:
topics: hobbies
hunting
lifestyle
glosses: A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
A loss of the scent being tracked by a hound.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
An intrusion of another material, such as dirt or slate, within a coal seam.
examples: text: one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
glosses: want; lack; absence
Derived terms: active fault
a fault confessed is half redressed
arc fault
at fault
at-fault
blind thrust fault
Byzantine fault tolerance
dextral fault
double fault
double-fault
downfault
electrical fault
fault current
fault-find
faultfind
faultfinder
fault-finding
faultfinding
fault-free
faultful
fault gouge
fault injection
faultless
fault line
fault-line
fault plane
fault-prone
fault scarp
fault tolerance
fault-tolerant
fault trace
fault tree
faultworthy
faulty
find fault
findfault
footfault
foot fault
interfault
it's not my fault
locked fault
no fault
no-fault
no-fault divorce
page fault
pick-fault
pick fault
postfault
pseudofault
San Andreas fault
segfault
segmentation fault
sinistral fault
strikeslip fault
subfault
time fault
to a fault
triple fault
upfault
Related terms: default