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.
( 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
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
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
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