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.
fault (plural faults)
- A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
c. 1596 (date written), 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, [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.
2020, Body Count (lyrics and music), “Point the Finger”:They shoot first and ask questions last / Could be yours, could be mine / And then they point the finger at you / How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault
- 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.
- 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[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 June 2018: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 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [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; Shakespeare’s Venus & Adonis: […], 4th edition, London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent and Co. […], 1896, →OCLC:Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.
(seismology):
defect
- Albanian: gabim (sq) m, faj (sq) m
- Arabic: خَلَل m (ḵalal), عَيْب m (ʕayb), عَوَار m (ʕawār)
- Belarusian: дэфе́кт m (defjékt), га́на f (hána)
- Bengali: দোষ (bn) (dōś), ত্রুটি (bn) (truṭi)
- Bulgarian: дефе́кт (bg) m (defékt), недоста́тък (bg) m (nedostátǎk)
- Catalan: errada (ca) f, culpa (ca) f, defecte (ca) m, error (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 毛病 (zh) (máobing, máobìng), 缺點/缺点 (zh) (quēdiǎn)
- Czech: chyba (cs) f
- Esperanto: eraro
- Estonian: viga
- Finnish: puute (fi), virhe (fi), vika (fi), epäkohta (fi)
- French: défaut (fr) m
- Georgian: წუნი (c̣uni), ნაკლი (ka) (naḳli)
- German: Fehler (de) m
- Hebrew: פָּגַם (he) m (pgam)
- Hindi: खोट (hi) m (khoṭ), दोष (hi) m (doṣ)
- Hungarian: hiba (hu), hiányosság (hu), fogyatékosság (hu)
- Italian: colpa (it) f, imperfezione (it) f
- Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (けってん, ketten), 欠陥 (ja) (けっかん, kekkan)
- Korean: 결함(缺陷) (ko) (gyeolham)
- Latin: vitium n, culpa f
- Malayalam: പിഴവ് (ml) (piḻavŭ)
- Maranao: daway
- Ngazidja Comorian: kosa class 5/6
- Persian: عیب (fa) ('eyb), عوار (fa) ('avâr), نقص (fa) (naqs)
- Polish: wada (pl) f, defekt (pl) m
- Portuguese: defeito (pt) m, falha (pt) f
- Romanian: hibă (ro) f
- Russian: дефе́кт (ru) m (defékt), изъя́н (ru) m (izʺján), оши́бка (ru) f (ošíbka)
- Sanskrit: दोष (sa) m (doṣa), अगुण (sa) m (aguṇa)
- Scottish Gaelic: cron m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: грешка f, грјешка f, мана f, кривња f
- Roman: greška (sh) f, grješka f, mana (sh) f, krivnja (sh) f
- Slovak: chyba f
- Slovene: hiba f
- Spanish: defecto (es) m, falla (es) f
- Swedish: fel (sv) n, brist (sv) c
- Telugu: తప్పిదం (te) (tappidaṁ)
- Turkish: yanlış (tr)
- Ukrainian: ґандж (uk) m (gandž), дефе́кт (uk) m (defékt), ва́да (uk) f (váda)
- Welsh: bai (cy) m
- Zazaki: xırab, eyb
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mistake or error
- Arabic: خَطَأ m (ḵaṭaʔ), غَلْطَة f (ḡalṭa)
- Egyptian Arabic: زمب f
- Azerbaijani: səhv (az), yanlış, yanlışlıq, iştibah (South Azerbaijani)
- Bashkir: хата (xata)
- Basque: huts
- Belarusian: памы́лка f (pamýlka)
- Bengali: ভুল (bn) (bhul), গলতি (bn) (gôlti), খাতা (bn) (khata)
- Bulgarian: гре́шка (bg) f (gréška)
- Catalan: error (ca) m, errada (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 錯誤/错误 (zh) (cuòwù)
- Czech: chyba (cs) f
- Dutch: fout (nl)
- Estonian: viga
- Finnish: virhe (fi), vika (fi); moka (fi) (slang)
- French: faute (fr) f
- Georgian: შეცდომა (šecdoma), ცდომილება (cdomileba)
- German: Schuld (de) f
- Greek: φταίξιμο (el) (ftaíximo)
- Hebrew: טָעוּת (he) f (taút), משגה m (mishgé)
- Hindi: ग़लती (hi) f (ġaltī), क़सूर m (qasūr)
- Hungarian: hiba (hu), mulasztás (hu)
- Italian: colpa (it) f
- Japanese: せい (ja) (sei), 誤り (ja) (ayamari)
- Khmer: ទោស (km) (tooh)
- Latgalian: klaida, vaine
- Latin: culpa f
- Latvian: kļuda, vaina
- Malay: salah (ms)
- Malayalam: പിഴവ് (ml) (piḻavŭ)
- Mansaka: sara
- Maranao: sala'
- Norwegian: skyld m or f
- Persian: خطا (fa) (xatâ)
- Polish: błąd (pl) m, pomyłka (pl) f
- Portuguese: culpa (pt) f
- Romanian: vină (ro) f, greșeală (ro) f, culpă (ro) f
- Russian: оши́бка (ru) f (ošíbka)
- Scottish Gaelic: cron m, coire f
- Sicilian: curpa (scn) f
- Slovak: chyba f
- Spanish: culpa (es) f
- Swedish: skuld (sv) c
- Tausug: sa
- Tetum: sala
- Tocharian B: nāki
- Turkish: hata (tr)
- Ukrainian: поми́лка (uk) f (pomýlka), по́милка (uk) f (pómylka)
- Zazaki: xeta (diq), xırabin
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blame; responsibility for a mistake
geology fracture in rock
- Arabic: صَدْع m (ṣadʕ)
- Bengali: ফাটল (bn) (phaṭôl), চ্যুতি (bn) (cuti)
- Catalan: falla (ca) f
- Czech: zlom (cs) m
- Danish: forkastning (da) c
- Dutch: breuk (nl) c
- Finnish: siirros (fi)
- French: faille (fr) f, faute (fr) f
- German: Bruchlinie f
- Hungarian: vetődés (hu), törés (hu), rétegelmozdulás
- Indonesian: patahan (id), sesar (id)
- Irish: éasc m
- Italian: fessura (it) f, crepa (it) f, frattura (it) f, faglia (it) f
- Japanese: 断層 (ja) (だんそう, dansō)
- Korean: (in South Korea) 단층(斷層) (ko) (Dancheung), (in North Korea) 땅끊임 (Ttangkkeunim)
- Latin: culpa f
- Malay: sesar, sesaran (ms), gelinciran
- Maori: hapa
- Norwegian: forkastning m or f
- Nynorsk: forkasting f
- Polish: uskok (pl) m
- Portuguese: falha (pt) f
- Russian: разло́м (ru) m (razlóm)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: расјед
- Roman: rasjed (sh) m
- Spanish: falla (es) f
- Swedish: förkastning (sv) c
- Welsh: ffawt m
- Zazaki: xırıx
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electrical: abnormal connection
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.
2024 May 29, Philip Haigh, “The digital revolution and the switch to in-cab signalling”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 29:"There will a team over there [he waves towards York's Rail Operating Centre] like flight engineers, maintaining it and faulting it from a ROC rather than a van by the side of the track."
- (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.
to criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone
to commit a mistake or error
fault
- Obsolete spelling of faut (third-person singular present indicative of falloir)
fault
- inflection of faulen:
- second-person plural present
- third-person singular present
- plural imperative
Borrowed from English fault.
fault n (plural faulturi)
- (sports) fault