fault
/fɔːlt//fɔlt/
fault noun: culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
Noun
fault (plural faults)
- Culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
- No, don't blame yourself. It's my fault that we lost the game.
- I told them the pie was still too hot. If they burn their tongues, that's their fault.
- A failing of character; less severe than a vice.
- Despite all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.
- A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which increases one's risk of danger or difficulty.
- You're still young, that's your fault.
- Synonyms:
- vulnerability
- A strongly undesirable variation of food or drink caused by impurity or contamination.
- Cork taint is one of the most recognizable wine faults.
- The time of greatest prevalence of this microörganism, August and September, agreed in general with the occurrence of this cheese fault. Not a single Cheddar cheese was found which turned blue, and as the iron content of Cheddar cheese was low the author regards this as supporting his conclusion...1891, T.J. Klaverweiden, “The cause of blue spots in cheese”, in Milch Zeitung, volume 23, number 35, pages 558-560; republished as Experiment station record, volume 25, United States Office of...
- A point of weakness in something's physical structure.
- As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.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]...
- A minor offense.
- An illegal serve.
- It is a fault if the ball served drop in the net, or beyond the Service-Line, or if it drop out of Court, or in the wrong Court. A fault may not be taken. After a fault, the Server shall serve again from the same Court from which he served that fault.1879, Julian Marshall, Lawn-tennis: With the Laws Adopted by the M. C. C., and A. E. C. & L. T. C., and Badminton, page 8
- A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping.
- If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.
- An exception within a software program or process.
- A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
- That might explain why the last three major earthquakes occurred not at San Andreas faults, where it would seem natural to expect them, but in both adjacent fault groups.2003, Alexandre A. Soloviev, Vladimir Isaakovich Kelis-Borok, Nonlinear Dynamics of the Lithosphere and Earthquake Prediction, page 32
- An abnormal connection within an electric circuit.
- A loss of the scent being tracked by a hound.
- Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC
- An intrusion of another material, such as dirt or slate, within a coal seam.
- want; lack; absence
- one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friendc. 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]...
Verb
fault (third-person singular simple present faults, present participle faulting, simple past and past participle faulted)
- To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
- For that, says he, I ne'er will fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.a. 1723, unknown author, The Devonshire Nymph
- "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."2024 May 29, Philip Haigh, “The digital revolution and the switch to in-cab signalling”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 29
- Synonyms:
- accuse, admonish, put the blame on, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, cannonade, slash, lash
- To fracture.
- To commit a mistake or error.
- To undergo a page fault.
fault meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fault in Hindi
- defect
- खोट khoṭ, दोष doṣ
- mistake or error
- ग़लती ġaltī, क़सूर qasūr
- culpability; responsibility
- क़सूर qasūr
fault in Tamil
- தவறு, உரசு முனை, கோளாறு, பழுதை
fault in Marathi
- fault
- दोष doṣ
fault in Urdu
- mistake or error
- غلطی ġaltī, خطا xatā
- culpability; responsibility
- قصور qasūr
More languagesFewer languages
- fault in Bengali
- দোষ dōś, ত্রুটি truṭi, তকসির tôksir, ভুল bhul
- fault in Telugu
- తప్పిదం tappidaṁ
- fault in Malayalam
- പിഴവ് piḻavŭ, കുറ്റം kuṟṟaṁ, കുറ്റപ്പെടുത്തുക kuṟṟappeṭuttuka
- fault in Kannada
- ತಪ್ಪು, ಪೊಚ್ಚ, ಹೊರೆ, ಕುಂದು
- fault in Punjabi
- ਦੋਖ dokh
- fault in Gujarati
- દોષ
- fault in Odia
- କୁ ku, ଭୁଲ୍ bhul, ଅଖ akha
- fault in Sanskrit
- दोष doṣa, अगुण aguṇa
- fault in Sinhala
- වරද warada
- fault in Assamese
- জগৰ zogor
- fault in Arabic
- خَلَل ḵalal, عَيْب ʕayb, عَوَار ʕawār, خَطَأ ḵaṭaʔ
- fault in Malay
- salah, sesar, sesaran, gelinciran
- fault in Indonesian
- patahan, sesar
- fault in Persian
- عیب 'eyb, عوار 'avâr, نقص naqs, خطا xatâ
- fault in Thai
- ข้อบกพร่อง, จุดบกพร่อง jùt-bòk-prɔ̂ng, ความผิด kwaam-pìt
Examples of fault in a sentence
- The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
- Spade's 13-year-old daughter indicated, among other things, that what had happened was not the child’s fault.2018 June 5, Jonah Engel Bromwich, Vanessa Friedman, Matthew Schneier, “Kate Spade, whose handbags carried women into adulthood, is dead at...
- How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault2020, “Point the Finger”, in Carnivore (Rap Metal, Thrash Metal), performed by Body Count ft. Riley Gale, United States:
- The time of greatest prevalence of this microörganism, August and September, agreed in general with the occurrence of this cheese fault.1891, T.J. Klaverweiden, “The cause of blue spots in cheese”, in Milch Zeitung, volume 23, number 35, pages 558-560; republished as...
Synonyms of fault
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- lash
- blame
- scorch
- blast
- berate
- castigate
- censure
- charge
- chastise
- chew out
- chide
- condemn
- criticize
- denounce
- denunciate
- deprecate
- derogate
- dispraise
- drag
- dress down
- eat someone alive
- excoriate
- find fault
- fulminate
- get at
- get down
- get up
- give somebody a piece of one's mind
- give somebody what-for
- inveigh
Forms of fault
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | faults |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | faults |
| present participle | faulting |
| past participle | faulted |
| past | faulted |
Origin of fault
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.
Words formed from fault
- active fault
- a fault confessed is half redressed
- arc fault
- at fault
- at-fault
- blind thrust fault
- Byzantine fault tolerance
- dextral fault
- double fault
- double-fault
- downfault
- electrical fault
- fault current
- faultfinder
- faultfind
- fault-find
- fault-finding
- faultfinding
- fault-free
- faultful
- fault gouge
- fault injection
- faultless
- fault-line
- fault line
- fault plane
- fault-prone
- fault scarp
- fault tolerance
- fault-tolerant
- fault trace
- fault tree
- faultworthy
- faulty
- find fault
- findfault
- foot fault
- footfault
- interfault
- it's not my fault
- locked fault
- no-fault divorce
- no-fault
- no fault
- page fault
- pick-fault
- pick fault
- postfault
- pseudofault
- San Andreas fault
- segfault
- segmentation fault
- sinistral fault
- strikeslip fault
- subfault
- time fault
- to a fault
- triple fault
- upfault
- wrench fault
Phrases with fault
- fault lines
- fault trees
- finds fault
- found fault
- picks fault
- fault gouges
- fault planes
- fault scarps
- fault traces
- normal fault
- picked fault
- thrust fault
8 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with fault
Questions about fault
- What does fault mean?
- Fault means culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
- What is fault in Hindi?
- Fault in Hindi is खोट (khoṭ), दोष (doṣ), क़सूर (qasūr). See Fault meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use fault in a sentence?
- The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
- What part of speech is fault?
- Fault can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce fault?
- Fault is pronounced /fɔːlt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fault?
- The plural of fault is faults.
Words near fault in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fault (page history and authors); fault (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); दोष (Marathi) (page history and authors); fault (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਦੋਖ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); fault (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଅଖ (Odia) (page history and authors); වරද (Sinhala) (page history and authors); জগৰ (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-fault.ogg, en-us-fault.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fault.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fault. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.