fault
(fôlt)
[Middle English faulte, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin* fallita, from variant of Latin falsa feminine past participle of fallere, to deceive, fail.]
noun
- A character weakness, especially a minor one.
- Something that impairs or detracts from physical perfection; a defect. See synonyms at blemish
- A mistake; an error.
- A minor offense or misdeed.
- Responsibility for a mistake or an offense; culpability. See synonyms at blame
- Geology A fracture in the continuity of a rock formation caused by a shifting or dislodging of the earth's crust, in which adjacent surfaces are displaced relative to one another and parallel to the plane of fracture. Also called shift
- Electronics A defect in a circuit or wiring caused by imperfect connections, poor insulation, grounding, or shorting.
- Sports A bad service, as in tennis.
- Obsolete A lack or deficiency.
verb: fault·ed, fault·ing, faults.
transitive verb
- To find error or defect in; criticize or blame.
- Geology To produce a fault in; fracture.
intransitive verb
- To commit a mistake or an error.
- Geology To shift so as to produce a fault.
idioms
- at fault
- Deserving of blame; guilty: admitted to being at fault. Confused and puzzled.
- find fault
- To seek, find, and complain about faults; criticize: found fault with his speech.
- to a fault
- To an excessive degree: generous to a fault.
