fault

[ fawlt ]

See synonyms for: fault faulted faulting faults on Thesaurus.com

noun

a defect or imperfection; flaw; failing: a fault in the brakes;a fault in one's character.
responsibility for failure or a wrongful act: It is my fault that we have not finished.

an error or mistake: a fault in addition.
a misdeed or transgression: to confess one's faults.
Sports. (in tennis, handball, etc.)
- a ball that when served does not land in the proper section of an opponent's court.
- a failure to serve the ball according to the rules, as from within a certain area.
Geology, Mining. a break in the continuity of a body of rock or of a vein, with dislocation along the plane of the fracture (fault plane ).
Manège. (of a horse jumping in a show) any of a number of improper executions in negotiating a jump, as a tick, knockdown, refusal, or run-out.
Electricity. a partial or total local failure in the insulation or continuity of a conductor or in the functioning of an electric system.
Hunting. a break in the line of scent; a losing of the scent; check.
Obsolete. lack; want.

verb (used without object)

to commit a fault; blunder; err.
Geology. to undergo faulting.

verb (used with object)

Geology. to cause a fault in.
to find fault with, blame, or censure.

Idioms about fault

at fault,
- open to censure; blameworthy: to be at fault for a mistake.
- in a dilemma; puzzled: to be at fault as to where to go.
- (of hounds) unable to find the scent.
find fault, to seek and make known defects or flaws; complain; criticize: He constantly found fault with my behavior.

to a fault, to an extreme degree; excessively: She was generous to a fault.

Origin of fault

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English faute, faulte, from Anglo-French, Middle French, from unattested Vulgar Latin fallita, noun use of feminine of unattested fallitus, for Latin falsus, past participle of fallere “to be wrong”

synonym study For fault

1. Fault, failing, foible, weakness, vice imply shortcomings or imperfections in a person. Fault is the common word used to refer to any of the average shortcomings of a person; when it is used, condemnation is not necessarily implied: A quick temper is her greatest fault. Foible, failing, weakness all tend to excuse the person referred to. Of these foible is the mildest, suggesting a weak point that is slight and often amusing, manifesting itself in eccentricity rather than in wrongdoing: the foibles of artists. Weakness suggests that the person in question is unable to control a particular impulse, and gives way to self-indulgence: a weakness for pretty women. Failing is closely akin to fault, except that it is particularly applied to humanity at large, suggesting common, often venial, shortcomings: Procrastination and making excuses are common failings. Vice (which may also apply to a sin in itself, apart from a person: the vice of gambling ) is the strongest term, and designates a habit that is truly detrimental or evil.

Other words for fault

1	blemish; frailty, shortcoming

See synonyms for fault on Thesaurus.com

Opposites for fault

1	virtue, strength, merit; perfection

See antonyms for fault on Thesaurus.com

Other words from fault

post·fault, noun

Words Nearby fault

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fault in a sentence

The emergency pivot to remote learning for K–12 students last spring illuminated longstanding educational fault lines in the United States.
Creative school plans could counter inequities exposed by COVID-19 | Sujata Gupta | September 8, 2020 | Science News
They had definitely gone through various stages of believing it was their fault, that they were silly to have believed him.
“People want to believe”: How Love Fraud builds an absorbing docuseries around a romantic con man | Alissa Wilkinson | September 4, 2020 | Vox
Throughout the scandal – and resulting budget cuts – Janney insisted the problems were not her fault and that she could steer the district back to financial stability.
Embattled Sweetwater Superintendent Fired | Will Huntsberry | September 1, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
That finding hints that CO2 rising toward Earth’s surface can change pressure along faults to trigger earthquakes, researchers report online August 26 in Science Advances.
Carbon dioxide from Earth’s mantle may trigger some Italian earthquakes | Maria Temming | August 26, 2020 | Science News
That said, the primary process can still reveal different fault lines in the party.
Biden Had To Fight For The Presidential Nomination. But Most VPs Have To. | Julia Azari | August 20, 2020 | FiveThirtyEight

For a few minutes it seemed like old times, a return to the clearer fault-lines of the Cold War.
Indefensible but Indispensable America | Jamie Dettmer | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Race is the San Andreas fault of our culture as well as our history.
The Wildly Peaceful, Human, Almost Boring, Ultimately Great New York City Protests for Eric Garner | Mike Barnicle | December 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It seemed she echoed all the things I was telling myself—this is YOUR fault.
How I Stopped My Rapist | Natasha Alexenko | November 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Big Bird's honest reaction will emotionally wreck you in a way even The fault in Our Stars can't.
‘Sesame Street’ Is Middle-Aged and Awesome | Emily Shire | November 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
It distorts more and more every day of the month, every year, due to the slow effects of fault creep.
Silicon Valley Mansions, Swallowed Alive | Geoff Manaugh | November 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
You never cared—you were too proud to care; and when I spoke to you about my fault, you did n't even know what I meant.
Confidence | Henry James
De Robeck agrees that we don't know enough yet to warrant us in fault-finding or intervention.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian Hamilton
At other times they have a dreadful look of being fibs invented for the purpose of covering a fault.
Children's Ways | James Sully
The French Railroads are better in this respect, and the American cannot be worse, though the fault is not unknown there.
Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
At the very commencement of the campaign Massna committed a fault which almost ruined his career.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison

British Dictionary definitions for fault

fault

/ (fɔːlt) /

noun

an imperfection; failing or defect; flaw
a mistake or error

an offence; misdeed
responsibility for a mistake or misdeed; culpability
electronics a defect in a circuit, component, or line, such as a short circuit
geology a fracture in the earth's crust resulting in the relative displacement and loss of continuity of the rocks on either side of it
tennis squash badminton an invalid serve, such as one that lands outside a prescribed area
(in showjumping) a penalty mark given for failing to clear or refusing a fence, exceeding a time limit, etc
hunting an instance of the hounds losing the scent
deficiency; lack; want
at fault
- guilty of error; culpable
- perplexed
- (of hounds) having temporarily lost the scent
find fault to seek out minor imperfections or errors (in); carp (at)
to a fault excessively

verb

geology to undergo or cause to undergo a fault
(tr) to find a fault in, criticize, or blame

(intr) to commit a fault

Origin of fault

C13: from Old French faute, from Vulgar Latin fallita (unattested), ultimately from Latin fallere to fail

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for fault

fault

[ fôlt ]

A fracture in a rock formation along which there has been movement of the blocks of rock on either side of the plane of fracture. Faults are caused by plate-tectonic forces. See more at normal fault reverse fault strike-slip fault thrust fault transform fault. See Note at earthquake.

a closer look

Bedrock, the solid rock just below the soil, is often cracked along surfaces known as planes. Cracks can extend up to hundreds of kilometers in length. When tensional and compressional stresses cause rocks separated by a crack to move past each other, the crack is known as a fault. Faults can be horizontal, vertical, or oblique. The movement can occur in the sudden jerks known as earthquakes. Normal faults, or tensional faults, occur when the rocks above the fault plane move down relative to the rocks below it, pulling the rocks apart. Where there is compression and folding, such as in mountainous regions, the rocks above the plane move upward relative to the rocks below the plane; these are called reverse faults. Strike-slip faults occur when shearing stress causes rocks on either side of the crack to slide parallel to the fault plane between them. Transform faults are strike-slip faults in which the crack is part of a boundary between two tectonic plates. A well-known example is the San Andreas Fault in California. Geologists use sightings of displaced outcroppings to infer the presence of faults, and they study faults to learn the history of the forces that have acted on rocks.

Cultural definitions for fault

fault

In geology, a place where sections of the crust of the Earth move relative to each other. (See earthquake and San Andreas fault.)

Notes for fault

Faults tend to occur near the edges of tectonic plates.

Other Idioms and Phrases with fault

fault

see at fault; find fault; to a fault.

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