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English
Etymology
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 .
Pronunciation
Noun
fault (plural faults )
( typically uncountable ) 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 .
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare , “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [ … ] (First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed[ ward] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act I, scene ii] :The fault , dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
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. Spade's 13-year-old daughter indicated, among other things, that what had happened was not the child’s fault .
2020 , Body Count (lyrics and music), “Point the Finger ”:How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault
A defect , imperfection , or weakness ; more severe than a flaw .
( morality ) 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 .
Synonym: vulnerability
You're still young, that's your fault .
A strongly undesirable variation of food or drink caused by impurity or contamination .
Cork taint is one of the most recognizable wine faults .
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 [2] , volume 25 , United States Office of Experiment Stations, 1896 , page 482 :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 that iron is the cause of the fault .
2003 , Godfrey Spence, Wine tasting , page 5:No common wine fault is likely to cause serious health problems but you won't want to take the tasting much further if the wine smells faulty.
( obsolete ) A point of weakness in something's physical structure .
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 .
A minor offense .
( tennis ) An illegal serve .
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: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 .
( equestrianism ) A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping .
If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.
( programming ) An exception within a software program or process .
Hyponyms: double fault , page fault , segmentation fault , triple fault
A point at which something is divided , interrupted , or disconnected .
( geology ) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity .
Hyponyms: normal fault , reverse fault , strike-slip fault , thrust fault , transform fault
( technology ) An abnormal connection within an electric circuit .
Hyponym: arc fault
( hunting ) A loss of the scent being tracked by a hound .
( mining ) An intrusion of another material, such as dirt or slate , within a coal seam .
( obsolete ) want ; lack ; absence
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
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
culpability; responsibility
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 )
Bhojpuri: दोष ( dōṣ )
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
undesirable variation of food or drink
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
equestrianism: penalty point
point at which something is interrupted
geology: fracture
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
technology: abnormal connection
Verb
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.
Translations
to criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone
to commit a mistake or error
References
French
Verb
fault
Obsolete spelling of faut (third-person singular present indicative of falloir )
German
Pronunciation
Verb
fault
inflection of faulen :
second-person plural present
third-person singular present
plural imperative
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from English fault .
Pronunciation
Noun
fault n (plural faulturi )
( sports ) fault
Declension