fault

[fawlt]

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

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

1250–1300; Middle English faute < Anglo-French, Middle French < Vulgar Latin *fallita, noun use of feminine of *fallitus, for Latin falsus, past participle of fallere to be wrong

Related formspost·fault, noun

Synonyms for fault

1. blemish; frailty, shortcoming. 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: Of his many faults the greatest is vanity. 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.

Antonyms for fault

1. virtue, strength, merit.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for to a fault

fault

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

Word Origin for 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

Word Origin and History for to a fault

fault

late 13c., faute, "deficiency," from Old French faute (12c.) "opening, gap; failure, flaw, blemish; lack, deficiency," from Vulgar Latin *fallita "a shortcoming, falling," noun use of fem. past participle, from Latin falsus "deceptive, feigned, spurious," past participle of fallere "deceive, disappoint" (see fail).

The -l- was restored 16c., probably in imitation of Latin, but was not pronounced till 18c. Sense of "physical defect" is from early 14c.; that of "moral culpability" is first recorded late 14c. Geological sense is from 1796. The use in tennis (c.1600) is closer to the etymological sense.

fault

late 14c., Scottish, "be deficient;" see fault (n.). Meaning "find fault with" is from mid-15c. Related: Faulted; faulter; faulting.

to a fault in Science

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.

to a fault in Culture

fault

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

Note

Faults tend to occur near the edges of tectonic plates.

Idioms and Phrases with to a fault

to a fault

Excessively, extremely, as in He was generous to a fault. This phrase, always qualifying an adjective, has been so used since the mid-1700s. Indeed, Oliver Goldsmith had this precise usage in The Life of Richard Nash (1762).

fault

see at fault; find fault; to a fault.