faulty
Americanadjective
-
faultier,
comparative
-
faultiest
superlative
adjective
-
defective or imperfect
-
archaic culpable
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of faulty
First recorded in 1300–50, faulty is from the Middle English word fauty. See fault, -y 1
Explanation
Something that's faulty is full of mistakes — it's wrong. Faulty logic often leads people to make terrible decisions, since they're based on an incorrect way of thinking. A faulty explanation is based on errors, and a faulty machine doesn't work the way it's supposed to. If your chocolate chip cookies keep coming out burned, your stove may be faulty — or you may be baking them too long. If your car's brakes are faulty, it won't stop as quickly as it should, and if your furnace is faulty, it will be a long, cold winter. Faulty and fail share a common Latin root word.
Vocabulary lists containing faulty
Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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Drama
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Way Off: Synonyms for "Wrong"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Unison said its members had reported being sent out in ambulances in stifling heat with faulty or no air conditioning, and often with limited access to drinking water or toilet facilities.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The Times, a longtime Mulholland booster, blamed “a faulty system which loads upon any man’s shoulders, no matter how broad, responsibilities that are too heavy for any man to bear.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Police have made two arrests over the Porto Germeno fire, believed to have started from a faulty power cable, including a local mayor.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
One prepared the station for upgrades to its electrical power system, while the other involved replacing a faulty joint on the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Mechanics rolled up their sleeves and sharpened their eyes; a broken piston, an improperly locked shoulder harness, a faulty fuel tank light, any one of these could cost lives.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
Or they just don’t like finding out their memories are faultier than they thought.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 7, 2018
There is no commoner, and at the same time faultier, way of reasoning, than that of objecting to a philosophical hypothesis the injury it may do to morals and to religion.
From The Heavenly Father Lectures on Modern Atheism by Henry Downton
Colburn's First Lessons, the only faultiest school book that we have, has made a great change in the mode of teaching Arithmetic, and is destined to make a still greater.
From Rollo in Holland by Jacob Abbott
His next poem was "Annus Mirabilis," published in 1667, and counted justly one of his most vigorous, though also one of the faultiest of his poems.
From The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by John Dryden
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
