fault

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English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old French faute, faulte, from Middle English faulte, faute, from Anglo-Norman faute, faulte, from Vulgar Latin *fallita (shortcoming), from 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, löstr (fault, vice, crime)).

Noun [edit]

fault (plural faults)

  1. A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
  2. A mistake or error.
  3. A weakness of character.
  4. A minor offense.
  5. Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.
  6. (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity
  7. (tennis) An illegal serve.
  8. (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.

Derived terms [edit]

Synonyms [edit]

Translations [edit]

Verb [edit]

fault (third-person singular simple present faults, present participle faulting, simple past and past participle faulted)

  1. (transitive) To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
    • Traditional song
      For that I will not fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.
  2. (intransitive, geology) To fracture.
  3. (intransitive) To commit a mistake or error.
  4. (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.

Translations [edit]


French [edit]

Verb [edit]

fault

  1. Obsolete spelling of faut.