default

Default is the failure to meet one’s financial obligations, for example, when a borrower misses or stops making monthly loan payments. Default on a loan can make it difficult to get loans in the future and may have other serious consequences.

If a person defaults on a home mortgage, the bank may foreclose on the loan and take over ownership of the property, to sell it in order to recoup as much of the unpaid portion of the loan as possible.

The term not only applies to individuals, but also to businesses and governments that cannot pay back their debts.

Default can also mean failure to account properly for money in one’s care.

“Borrowers pay interest to lenders to compensate them for the use of borrowed funds, and as a safeguard against the borrower defaulting on the loan.”
—”What Is A Good Interest Rate?” Rocket Loans. Retrieved March 15, 2020.

“You may qualify for some types of credit or loan approvals using a co-signer or someone close to you who guarantees they will be legally responsible for paying back your debt if you default on the loan or cannot make payments.”
—”Bad Credit Is Scary: 5 Quick Strategies To Improve Your Credit Score” Rocket Loans. Retrieved March 15, 2020.

“Residential mortgage default is a complex event triggered by a host of household and socio-economic events. The recent collapse of the subprime market, coupled with the imposing downturn in the housing and broader economic markets has resulted in a rapidly expanding rate of mortgage defaults, many of which end in foreclosure and REO [real estate owned, that is, by the lender].”
—Allen C. Goodman and Brent C. Smith, “Housing Defaults: Theory Works and so Does Policy,” Introduction, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Diane Publishing: 2010.

What are some terms connected to the topic of default?

• loan
• foreclose
• default risk
• credit score
• credit risk
• equity of redemption
• judgment note
• surety

As a verb, default most commonly means to fail to make a payment, especially on a loan.

It is also commonly used to refer to original, preset options, such as the default settings of a device or app.

Default has many meanings, but most of them involve the absence of something, such as a better alternative (especially in the phrase by default), or a failure to do something, such as make a payment or appear in court. When someone fails to make a payment on a mortgage or other loan, they are said to be in default. 

Example: There are no other candidates in the race, so he was declared the winner by default.

Default has been in use since around the 1200s. It comes from the Old French defaute, from the verb defaillir, meaning “to fail.” Defaillir derives from the Vulgar Latin dēfallīre, “to be lacking.” This is a good reminder that default typically refers to failing to do something or something that’s lacking.

When used in a financial context, default refers to a failure to pay back a loan, as in We’re going to default on our mortgage if we can’t make the payment by the end of the month. When this happens, a person is said to be in default. Less commonly, default can refer to losing a court case by failing to appear. The same meaning is sometimes used in sports, but the word forfeit is a more common way to say this.

The other common meaning of default has to do with the absence of something. When you fill out a form, it often has default responses that you can change—or leave as they are. When you get a new phone, it comes with default settings, meaning the preset, “factory settings” that you can then change and customize based on your preferences. Relatedly, default is used as a noun in the context of software to refer to a preset option or command that will be followed unless it is changed, as in please don’t alter the system defaults. Software will default (revert) to the defaults (presets) in default of (in the absence of) other options. The phrase in default of is commonly used in many contexts to refer to the absence of something, such as in the sentence In default of proper evidence, we could not charge the suspect with a crime. 

One of the most common uses of default is in the phrase by default, which means “in the absence of other options or better alternatives,” as in We have no other entries, so it looks like this one will win by default. It can also mean something like “as a natural or normal state,” as in I’m a calm person by default, so I don’t often get upset or angry.

What are some other forms of default?

• nondefaulting (adjective, noun)
• predefault (noun, verb)
• undefaulted (adjective)
• undefaulting (adjective)

What are some synonyms for default?

• delinquency
• nonpayment
• absence

What are some words that share a root or word element with default? 

• fault
• fail
• fallible
• fallacious

What are some words that often get used in discussing default?

• loan
• mortgage
• payment
• failure
• preset
• option
• software

Default is commonly used in the context of loans, mortgages, device presets, forms, and software. It is especially used in phrases like by default, in default, and in default of.

Realizing lately how easy it is to use they/them pronouns as a default to ensure folks feel comfortable. I’m not perfect but it gets easier everyday. Just saying.

— Roger Harvey (@xorogerharvey) March 5, 2020

Heroes born with a special power/heritage can be interesting, but it shouldn’t be every character’s default origin. https://t.co/Uoma7ASx7R

— Michael Terracciano (@mookiebean) March 5, 2020

"Philippa King, spokesperson for @DeHavilland said the company had filed a $42.9 million lawsuit for damages stemming from cancelled purchase agreements after @FlySpiceJet failed to take delivery of 19 aircraft and defaulted on several payments."

— Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) March 19, 2020

Is default used correctly in the following sentence?

I reverted my phone to the factory presets and now I have to change all the default settings again.