fault

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /fɔːlt/, /fɒlt/, SAMPA: /fO:lt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA: /fɔlt/, SAMPA: /fOlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA: /fɑlt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːlt

Etymology

From Middle English faulte, faute, from Anglo-Norman faute, faulte, from Old French 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

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. (geology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity
7. (tennis) An illegal serve.
8. (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.

Derived terms

• at fault
• to a fault

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:defect

Translations

defect

Albanian: gabim m., faj m. Arabic: خلل (ar) (khalal) m. Catalan: errada f., culpa f. Chinese: Mandarin: 毛病 (cmn) (máobing, máobìng), 缺點 (cmn), 缺点 (cmn) (quēdiǎn) Croatian: grješka (hr) f., mana (hr) f., krivnja (hr) f. Czech: chyba (cs) f. Esperanto: peko (eo) French: défaut m. (1,3), faute f. (2, 4, 5, 7) German: Fehler (de) m. Hindi: खोट (hi) (khoṭ) Hungarian: hiba (hu) Italian: colpa (it) f.

Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (けってん, ketten), 欠陥 (ja) (けっかん, kekkan) Latin: culpa (la) f. Polish: wada (pl) f. Portuguese: defeito (pt) m., falha (pt) f. Romanian: hibă (ro) f. Russian: дефект (ru) (defékt) m., изъян (ru) (iz”ján) m., ошибка (ru) (ošíbka) f. Scottish Gaelic: cron (gd) m. Serbian: greška (sr) f. Slovak: chyba (sk) f. Slovene: hiba (sl) f. Spanish: defecto (es) m., falla (es) f. Swedish: fel (sv) n. Telugu: తప్పిదం (tappidaM) Turkish: yanlış (tr)

mistake, e.g., of a person

Arabic: خطأ (ar) (khaTa') m. Egyptian: زمب (ar) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 錯誤 (cmn), 错误 (cmn) (cuòwù) French: faute (fr) f. German: Schuld (de) f. Hindi: ग़लती (hi) (ġalatī) f., क़सूर (hi) (qasūr) m. Japanese: せい (ja) (sei), 誤り (ja) (ayamari)

Latin: culpa (la) f. Norwegian: skyld (no) m. and f. Portuguese: culpa (pt) f. Romanian: vină (ro) f., greșeală (ro) f., culpă (ro) f. Russian: вина (ru) (viná) f., ошибка (ru) (ošíbka) f. Scottish Gaelic: cron (gd) m., coire (gd) f. Swedish: skuld (sv) c. Turkish: hata (tr) (hatā)

geological fracture through rock

Croatian: rasjed (hr) m. Dutch: breuk (nl) c. French: faille (fr) f., faute (fr) f. Italian: fessura (it) f., crepa (it) f., frattura (it) f., faglia (it) f. Japanese: 断層 (dansō) Latin: culpa (la) f.

Norwegian: forkastning (no) m. and f. Polish: uskok (pl) m. Portuguese: falha (pt) f. Spanish: falla (es) f. Swedish: förkastning (sv) c.

Verb

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.
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

• French: mettre en défaut (1), trouver une faille dans (1), se failler (2), faillir (3)

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French

Verb

fault

1. Obsolete spelling of faut.

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Old French

Noun

fault

1. Obsolete spelling of fau.

Etymology

Latin falsus

Adjective

fault m. (feminine fausse)

1. false; not true
2. false; fake; unreal

Declension

  Declension of fault  

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	faulz	fausse	fault
	Oblique	fault	fausse	fault
Plural	Subject	fault	fausses	fault
	Oblique	faulz	fausses	fault

Descendants

• English: fault
• French: faux (likely from faulz, fauz)