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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
fault    Audio Help   [fawlt] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a defect or imperfection; flaw; failing: a fault in the brakes; a fault in one's character.
2.responsibility for failure or a wrongful act: It is my fault that we have not finished.
3.an error or mistake: a fault in addition.
4.a misdeed or transgression: to confess one's faults.
5.Sports. (in tennis, handball, etc.)
a.a ball that when served does not land in the proper section of an opponent's court.
b.a failure to serve the ball according to the rules, as from within a certain area.
6.Geology, Mining. a break in the continuity of a body of rock or of a vein, with dislocation along the plane of the fracture (fault plane).
7.Manège. (of a horse jumping in a show) any of a number of improper executions in negotiating a jump, as a tick, knockdown, refusal, or run-out.
8.Electricity. a partial or total local failure in the insulation or continuity of a conductor or in the functioning of an electric system.
9.Hunting. a break in the line of scent; a losing of the scent; check.
10.Obsolete. lack; want.
–verb (used without object)
11.to commit a fault; blunder; err.
12.Geology. to undergo faulting.
–verb (used with object)
13.Geology. to cause a fault in.
14.to find fault with, blame, or censure.
—Idioms
15.at fault,
a.open to censure; blameworthy: to be at fault for a mistake.
b.in a dilemma; puzzled: to be at fault as to where to go.
c.(of hounds) unable to find the scent.
16.find fault, to seek and make known defects or flaws; complain; criticize: He constantly found fault with my behavior.
17.to a fault, to an extreme degree; excessively: She was generous to a fault.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME faute < AF, MF < VL *fallita, n. use of fem. of *fallitus, for L falsus, ptp. of fallere to be wrong]

—Synonyms 1. blemish; frailty, shortcoming. Fault, failing, foible, weakness, vice imply shortcomings or imperfections in a person. Fault is the common word used to refer to any of the average shortcomings of a person; when it is used, condemnation is not necessarily implied: Of his many faults the greatest is vanity. Foible, failing, weakness all tend to excuse the person referred to. Of these foible is the mildest, suggesting a weak point that is slight and often amusing, manifesting itself in eccentricity rather than in wrongdoing: the foibles of artists. Weakness suggests that the person in question is unable to control a particular impulse, and gives way to self-indulgence: a weakness for pretty women. Failing is closely akin to fault, except that it is particularly applied to humanity at large, suggesting common, often venial, shortcomings: Procrastination and making excuses are common failings. Vice (which may also apply to a sin in itself, apart from a person: the vice of gambling) is the strongest term, and designates a habit that is truly detrimental or evil.
—Antonyms 1. virtue, strength, merit.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
at fault

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© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fault    Audio Help   (fôlt)  Pronunciation Key 


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n.  
    1. A character weakness, especially a minor one.
    2. Something that impairs or detracts from physical perfection; a defect. See Synonyms at blemish.
    3. A mistake; an error.
    4. A minor offense or misdeed.
  2. Responsibility for a mistake or an offense; culpability. See Synonyms at blame.
  3. Geology A fracture in the continuity of a rock formation caused by a shifting or dislodging of the earth's crust, in which adjacent surfaces are displaced relative to one another and parallel to the plane of fracture. Also called shift.
  4. Electronics A defect in a circuit or wiring caused by imperfect connections, poor insulation, grounding, or shorting.
  5. Sports A bad service, as in tennis.
  6. Obsolete A lack or deficiency.

v.   fault·ed, fault·ing, faults

v.   tr.
  1. To find error or defect in; criticize or blame.
  2. Geology To produce a fault in; fracture.

v.   intr.
  1. To commit a mistake or an error.
  2. Geology To shift so as to produce a fault.


[Middle English faulte, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *fallita, from variant of Latin falsa, feminine past participle of fallere, to deceive, fail.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
at fault

adjective
deserving blame; "admitted to being at fault" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

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