fault

English

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fault

Wikipedia

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːlt/, /fɒlt/

  Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔlt/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fɑlt/

    Audio (US)

    (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -ɔːlt, -ɒlt

Noun

fault (plural faults)

1. A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.

2. A mistake or error.

   No! This is my fault, not yours.

   • 2020, Body Count (lyrics and music), “Point the Finger”:

     They shoot first and ask questions last / Could be yours, could be mine / And then they point the finger at you / How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault

3. A weakness of character; a failing.

   Despite for all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.

4. A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which subjects a person or thing to increased risk of danger.

   You're still young, that's your fault.

   • 1970, Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman, Father and Son:
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

5. A minor offense.
6. Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.

   The fault lies with you.

   • 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 6 June 2018:

     A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a note found at the scene addressed to Ms. [Kate] Spade's 13-year-old daughter indicated, among other things, that what had happened was not the child’s fault.

7. (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
8. (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam.

   slate fault  dirt fault

9. (tennis) An illegal serve.
10. (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
11. (obsolete) want; lack
    • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend

12. (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
    • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: Richard Field, , →OCLC; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: , 4th edition, London: J M Dent and Co. , 1896, →OCLC:

      Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.

      The spelling has been modernized.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Hyponyms

(seismology):

• normal fault
• reverse fault
• strike-slip fault
• thrust fault
• transform fault

Derived terms

Related terms

• default

Translations

Verb

fault (third-person singular simple present faults, present participle faulting, simple past and past participle faulted)

1. (transitive) To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
   • a. 1723, unknown author, The Devonshire Nymph:

     For that, says he, I ne'er will fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.

2. (intransitive, geology) To fracture.
3. (intransitive) To commit a mistake or error.
4. (intransitive, computing) To undergo a page fault.
   • 2002, Æleen Frisch, Essential system administration:

     When a page is read in, a few pages surrounding the faulted page are typically loaded as well in the same I/O operation in an effort to head off future page faults.

Translations

References

French

Verb

fault

1. Obsolete spelling of faut (third-person singular present indicative of falloir)

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faʊ̯lt/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

fault

1. inflection of faulen:
   1. second-person plural present
   2. third-person singular present
   3. plural imperative

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English fault.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfa.ult/

Noun

fault n (plural faulturi)

1. (sports) fault

Declension