fault
English
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) - Rhymes: -ɔːlt
Noun
fault (plural faults)
- A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
- c. 1596, 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 606515358, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.
-
- A mistake or error.
- No! This is my fault, not yours.
- A weakness of character; a failing.
- Despite for all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.
- 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:
- The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
- A minor offense.
- 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 0362-4331, OCLC 971436363:
- 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.
- (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
- (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam[1].
- slate fault dirt fault
- (tennis) An illegal serve.
- (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
- (obsolete) want; lack
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend
-
- (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
- 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], OCLC 837166078; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, OCLC 19803734:
- Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.
-
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:defect
Hyponyms
(seismology):
- normal fault
- reverse fault
- strike-slip fault
- thrust fault
- transform fault
Derived terms
Terms derived from fault (noun)
- active fault
- a fault confessed is half redressed
- at fault
- at-fault
- blind thrust fault
- Byzantine fault tolerance
- dextral fault
- double-fault
- double fault
- fault current
- fault-find
- fault-finding, faultfinding
- fault-free
- fault gouge
- fault injection
- faultless
- fault-line
- fault line
- fault plane
- fault-prone
- fault scarp
- fault tolerance
- fault-tolerant
- fault trace
- fault tree
- faulty
- find fault
- foot fault
- it's not my fault
- locked fault
- no-fault
- no fault
- page fault
- pick-fault
- pick fault
- San Andreas fault
- segfault
- segmentation fault
- sinistral fault
- to a fault
- triple fault
Related terms
- default
Translations
defect
|
mistake or error
|
weakness of character
|
minor offense
|
blame; responsibility for a mistake
|
geology fracture in rock
|
mining: worthless seam
|
tennis: illegal serve
|
electrical: abnormal connection
|
want, lack
|
hunting
|
Verb
fault (third-person singular simple present faults, present participle faulting, simple past and past participle faulted)
- (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.
- a. 1723, unknown author, The Devonshire Nymph
- (intransitive, geology) To fracture.
- (intransitive) To commit a mistake or error.
- (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.
- 2002, Æleen Frisch, Essential system administration
Translations
to criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone
|
to fracture
to commit a mistake or error
|
to undergo a page fault
References
- 1881, Rossiter W. Raymond, A Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms
French
Verb
fault
- Obsolete spelling of faut (third-person singular present indicative of falloir)
German
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /faʊ̯lt/
Audio (file)
Verb
fault
- inflection of faulen:
- second-person plural present
- third-person singular present
- plural imperative
Romanian
Etymology
From English fault.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfa.ult/
Noun
fault n (plural faulturi)
- (sports) fault
Declension
Declension of fault
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
| nominative/accusative | (un) fault | faultul | (niște) faulturi | faulturile |
| genitive/dative | (unui) fault | faultului | (unor) faulturi | faulturilor |
| vocative | faultule | faulturilor | ||