fault

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɔːlt/, /fɒlt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /fɔlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

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

Etymology

From Middle English faute, faulte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French faute, 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.
   • Shakespeare

     As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.

2. A mistake or error.

   No!. This is my fault, not yours

3. A weakness of character; a failing.

   For all her faults, she's a good person at heart.

4. A minor offense.
5. Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.

   The fault lies with you.

6. (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
7. (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam.

   slate fault, dirt fault, etc.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Raymond to this entry?)

8. (tennis) An illegal serve.
9. (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
10. (obsolete) want; lack
    • Shakespeare

      one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend

11. (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
    • Shakespeare

      Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.

Derived terms

• at fault
• double fault
• to a fault

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:defect

Translations

defect

• Albanian: gabim m, faj m
• Arabic: خلل m (khalal)
• Bulgarian: дефект (bg) m (defekt), недостатък (bg) m (nedostatăk)
• Catalan: errada f, culpa f, defecte m, error (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毛病 (zh) (máobing, máobìng), 缺點, 缺点 (zh) (quēdiǎn)

• Czech: chyba (cs) f
• Esperanto: peko
• French: défaut (fr) m (1, 3), faute (fr) f (2, 4, 5, 7)
• German: Fehler (de) m
• Hindi: खोट (khoṭ)
• Hungarian: hiba (hu)
• Italian: colpa (it) f, imperfezione (it) f
• Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (けってん, ketten), 欠陥 (けっかん, kekkan)
• Latin: culpa f

• Polish: wada (pl) f
• Portuguese: defeito (pt) m, falha (pt) f
• Romanian: hibă (ro) f
• Russian: дефект (ru) m (defékt), изъян (ru) m (iz”ján), ошибка (ru) f (ošíbka)
• Scottish Gaelic: cron m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: грешка f, грјешка f, мана f, кривња f

  Roman: greška f, grješka f, mana f, krivnja f

• Slovak: chyba f
• Slovene: hiba 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 m (khaTa')
• Bashkir: хата (xata)

  Egyptian: زمب f

• Bulgarian: грешка (bg) f (greška)
• Catalan: error (ca) m, errada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 錯誤 (zh), 错误 (zh) (cuòwù)

• French: faute (fr) f
• German: Schuld (de) f
• Greek: φταίξιμο (el) (ftaíximo)
• Hindi: ग़लती f (ġalatī), क़सूर m (qasūr)
• Italian: colpa (it) f

• Japanese: せい (sei), 誤り (ayamari)
• Latgalian: klaida, vaine
• Latin: culpa f
• Latvian: kļuda, vaina
• Norwegian: skyld m, f
• Portuguese: culpa (pt) f
• Romanian: vină (ro) f, greșeală (ro) f, culpă (ro) f
• Russian: вина (ru) f (viná), ошибка (ru) f (ošíbka)
• Scottish Gaelic: cron m, coire f
• Swedish: skuld (sv) c
• Turkish: hata (tr) (hatā)

geological fracture through rock

• Catalan: falla f
• Dutch: breuk (nl) c
• French: faille (fr) f, faute (fr) f
• Italian: fessura (it) f, crepa f, frattura (it) f, faglia (it) f
• Japanese: 断層 (dansō)
• Latin: culpa f
• Norwegian: forkastning m, f

• Polish: uskok (pl) m
• Portuguese: falha (pt) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: расјед

  Roman: rasjed m

• Spanish: falla (es) f
• Swedish: förkastning c

A minor offense

• Bulgarian: простъпка (bg) f (prostăpka)
• Catalan: falta

• Italian: sbaglio (it) m

Blame; the responsibility for a mistake

• Bashkir: ғәйеп (ğäyep)
• Bulgarian: вина (bg) f (vina)
• Catalan: culpa f

• Italian: colpa (it) f, biasimo (it) m
• Polish: wina (pl) f
• Spanish: culpa (es) f

tennis failed serve

• Catalan: falta f

• Spanish: falta (es) f

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.
   • 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

• 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.