default

[ dih-fawlt, dee-fawlt ]
See synonyms for default on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. failure to act; inaction or neglect: They lost their best client by sheer default.

  2. Finance. failure to meet financial obligations, as when a borrower misses or stops making monthly loan payments: A default on your mortgage can lead to losing the house.

  1. Law. failure to perform an act or obligation legally required, especially to appear in court or to plead at a time assigned: The judge dismissed the suit for default of the defendant.

  2. Sports. failure to arrive in time for, participate in, or complete a scheduled game, race, etc.: So far the Cougars have had three losses, two wins, and one default.

  3. a person’s automatic or standard way of acting or responding; go-to or reflex: Her default is to argue about everything I say, unless she’s in a really good mood.

  4. lack; want; absence: For default of anything better, he took a job washing dishes.

  5. Computers. a value that a program or operating system assumes, or a course of action that a program or operating system will take, when the user or programmer specifies no overriding value or action.

adjective
  1. being a person’s automatic or standard action, response, etc.; go-to: Chocolate is my default choice for ice cream, but when I feel adventurous I’ll go for something more exotic.

  2. Computers. (of a value, action, etc.) preset or preselected, unless the user or programmer gives other input or instruction: The default contrast setting on this display is 50 percent.

verb (used without object)
  1. to fail to meet financial obligations, such as payments on a loan, or to account properly for money in one's care: After he defaulted twice, the bank foreclosed on the car.

  2. to fail in fulfilling or satisfying an engagement, claim, or obligation: They said they would pick me up, but defaulted at the last minute.

  1. Law. to fail to appear in court: One of the key witnesses defaulted.

  2. Sports.

    • to fail to participate in or complete a scheduled game, race, etc.: I only placed in that race because my chief rival defaulted.

    • to lose a scheduled game, race, etc., by default.

  3. to behave or respond in a certain way automatically, habitually, or by preference (usually followed by to): It seems that in your relationships you default to being a caregiver instead of a partner.

  4. Computers. (of a program or operating system) to assume a preset value or take a preselected action unless otherwise instructed by the user or programmer (usually followed by to): Your profile defaults to public unless you set the permissions to private.

verb (used with object)
  1. to fail to perform or pay: to default a debt.

  2. to declare to be in default, especially legally: The judge defaulted the defendant.

  1. Law. to lose by failure to appear in court.

  2. Sports.

    • to fail to compete in (a scheduled game, race, etc.).

    • to lose by default.

Idioms about default

  1. in default of, for lack or want of; in the absence of: In default of male heirs, his daughters inherited his property.

Origin of default

1
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English defau(l)te, from Anglo-French defalte, Old French defaute, from defaillir, modeled on faute, faillir; equivalent to de- + fault

Other words from default

  • non·de·fault·ing, adjective, noun
  • pre·de·fault, noun, verb
  • un·de·fault·ed, adjective
  • un·de·fault·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use default in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for default

default

/ (dɪˈfɔːlt) /


noun
  1. a failure to act, esp a failure to meet a financial obligation or to appear in a court of law at a time specified

  2. absence or lack

  1. by default in the absence of opposition or a better alternative: he became prime minister by default

  2. in default of through or in the lack or absence of

  3. judgment by default law a judgment in the plaintiff's favour when the defendant fails to plead or to appear

  4. lack, want, or need

  5. (also ˈdiːfɔːlt) computing

    • the preset selection of an option offered by a system, which will always be followed except when explicitly altered

    • (as modifier): default setting

verb
  1. (intr; often foll by on or in) to fail to make payment when due

  2. (intr) to fail to fulfil or perform an obligation, engagement, etc: to default in a sporting contest

  1. law to lose (a case) by failure to appear in court

  2. (tr) to declare that (someone) is in default

Origin of default

1
C13: from Old French defaute, from defaillir to fail, from Vulgar Latin dēfallīre (unattested) to be lacking

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for default

default

Failure to pay a debt when it is due.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with default

default

see in default of.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.