Fault

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Fault, n. [OE. faut, faute, F. faute (cf. It., Sp., & Pg. falta), fr. a verb meaning to want, fail, freq., fr. L. fallere to deceive. See Fail, and cf. Default.].

•  Defect; want; lack; default.  [1913 Webster]

  "One, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend."  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything that fails, that is wanting, or that impairs excellence; a failing; a defect; a blemish.  [1913 Webster]

  "As patches set upon a little breach
  Discredit more in hiding of the fault."  [1913 Webster]
•  A moral failing; a defect or dereliction from duty; a deviation from propriety; an offense less serious than a crime.  [1913 Webster]
•  A dislocation of the strata of the vein.  Raymond.  [1913 Webster]
•  A lost scent; act of losing the scent.  [1913 Webster]

  "Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled,
  With much ado, the cold fault cleary out."  [1913 Webster]
•  Failure to serve the ball into the proper court.  [1913 Webster]
•  A defective point in an electric circuit due to a crossing of the parts of the conductor, or to contact with another conductor or the earth, or to a break in the circuit.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  A dislocation caused by a slipping of rock masses along a plane of facture; also, the dislocated structure resulting from such slipping.

  "The surface along which the dislocated masses have moved is called the fault plane. When this plane is vertical, the fault is a vertical fault; when its inclination is such that the present relative position of the two masses could have been produced by the sliding down, along the fault plane, of the mass on its upper side, the fault is a normal fault, or gravity fault. When the fault plane is so inclined that the mass on its upper side has moved up relatively, the fault is then called a reverse fault (or reversed fault), thrust fault, or overthrust fault. If no vertical displacement has resulted, the fault is then called a horizontal fault. The linear extent of the dislocation measured on the fault plane and in the direction of movement is the displacement; the vertical displacement is the throw; the horizontal displacement is the heave. The direction of the line of intersection of the fault plane with a horizontal plane is the trend of the fault. A fault is a strike fault when its trend coincides approximately with the strike of associated strata (i.e., the line of intersection of the plane of the strata with a horizontal plane); it is a dip fault when its trend is at right angles to the strike; an oblique fault when its trend is oblique to the strike. Oblique faults and dip faults are sometimes called cross faults. A series of closely associated parallel faults are sometimes called step faults and sometimes distributive faults."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

At fault, unable to find the scent and continue chase; hence, in trouble or embarrassment, and unable to proceed; puzzled; thrown off the track. -- To find fault, to find reason for blaming or complaining; to express dissatisfaction; to complain; -- followed by with before the thing complained of; but formerly by at. “Matter to find fault at.” Robynson (More's Utopia).

Syn. -- -- Error; blemish; defect; imperfection; weakness; blunder; failing; vice.

Fault, v. t. 

•  To charge with a fault; to accuse; to find fault with; to blame.  [1913 Webster]

  "For that I will not fault thee."  [1913 Webster]
•  To interrupt the continuity of (rock strata) by displacement along a plane of fracture; -- chiefly used in the p. p.; as, the coal beds are badly faulted.  [1913 Webster]

Fault, v. i. 

 To err; to blunder, to commit a fault; to do wrong.  [1913 Webster]
"If after Samuel's death the people had asked of God a king, they had not faulted."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Fault, n. & v.
--n.
1 a defect or imperfection of character or of structure, appearance, etc.
2 a break or other defect in an electric circuit.
3 a transgression, offence, or thing wrongly done.
4 a Tennis etc. a service of the ball not in accordance with the rules. b (in showjumping) a penalty for an error.
5 responsibility for wrongdoing, error, etc. (it will be your own fault).
6 a defect regarded as the cause of something wrong (the fault lies in the teaching methods).
7 Geol. an extended break in the continuity of strata or a vein.
--v.
1 tr. find fault with; blame.
2 tr. declare to be faulty.
3 tr. Geol. break the continuity of (strata or a vein).
4 intr. commit a fault.
5 intr. Geol. show a fault.

Idiom

at fault guilty; to blame. fault-finder a person given to continually finding fault. fault-finding continual criticism. find fault (often foll. by with) make an adverse criticism; complain. to a fault (usu. of a commendable quality etc.) excessively (generous to a fault).

Etymology

ME faut(e) f. OF ult. f. L fallere FAIL

THESAURUS

Fault

aberrancy, aberration, abysm, abyss, accountability, accountable, accuse, answerability, answerable, arroyo, at fault, atrocity, bad habit, besetting sin, birthmark, blackhead, blame, blameworthy, bleb, blemish, blister, blunder, boner, boo-boo, boob, box canyon, breach, break, bug, bulla, call into question, call to account, canyon, carp at, catch, cavity, censure, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, cicatrix, cleft, clerical error, cleuch, clough, col, comedo, corrigendum, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater, craze, crevasse, crevice, crime, crime against humanity, criticize, culpability, culpable, cut, cwm, deadly sin, defacement, defect, defection, defectiveness, deficiency, defile, deformation, deformity, delinquency, dell, delusion, demerit, dereliction, deviancy, dike, disfiguration, disfigurement, disproportionately, distortion, ditch, donga, draw, drawback, enormity, errancy, erratum, erroneousness, error, evil, excavation, exceedingly, excessively, extremely, failing, failure, fallaciousness, fallacy, falseness, falsity, faultiness, faute, faux pas, felony, find fault, fissure, flaw, flawedness, flume, foible, fracture, frailty, freckle, furrow, fuss, gaffe, gap, gape, gash, gaucherie, genocide, goof, gorge, groove, guilt, guilty, guilty act, gulch, gulf, gully, hamartia, heavy sin, hemangioma, heresy, heterodoxy, hickey, hole, howler, human error, illusion, immoderately, imperfection, impropriety, impugn, in the extreme, inadequacy, incision, indiscretion, inexpiable sin, infirmity, iniquity, injury, injustice, irrationally, joint, keloid, kink, kloof, knock, lapse, leak, lentigo, liability, liable, little problem, malefaction, malfeasance, malum, milium, minor wrong, misapplication, misapprehension, misbehavior, miscalculation, miscarriage, misconception, misconduct, misconstruction, miscount, misdeal, misdeed, misdemeanor, misdoing, misfeasance, misidentification, misinterpretation, misjudgment, misplay, misprint, misquotation, misreport, miss, misstatement, mistake, misunderstanding, misuse, moat, mole, moral flaw, mortal sin, needle scar, nevus, niggle, nonfeasance, notch, nullah, offense, omission, onus, opening, outrage, overly, oversight, pass, passage, peccadillo, peccancy, perversion, pick at, pick on, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, problem, pustule, ravine, rent, responsibility, responsible, rift, rime, rupture, scab, scar, scissure, scratch, seam, sebaceous cyst, self-contradiction, shortcoming, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act, sinfulness, slip, slit, slot, snag, something missing, split, strawberry mark, sty, taint, take exception to, to a fault, to blame, tort, track, transgression, trench, trespass, trip, twist, typo, typographical error, unduly, unorthodoxy, unreasonably, untrueness, untruth, untruthfulness, unutterable sin, valley, venial sin, verruca, vesicle, vice, void, vulnerable place, wadi, wale, warp, wart, weak link, weak point, weak side, weakness, weal, welt, wen, whitehead, wrong, wrongness

ROGET THESAURUS

Fault

Imperfection

N imperfection, imperfectness, deficiency, inadequacy, peccancy, immaturity, fault, defect, weak point, screw loose, flaw, gap, twist, taint, attainder, bar sinister, hole in one's coat, blemish, weakness, half blood, shortcoming, drawback, seamy side, mediocrity, no great shakes, no great catch, not much to boast of, one-horse shay, imperfect, not perfect, deficient, defective, faulty, unsound, tainted, out of order, out of tune, cracked, leaky, sprung, warped, lame, injured, peccant, frail, inadequate, crude, incomplete, found wanting, below par, short-handed, below its full strength, under its full strength, below its full complement, indifferent, middling, ordinary, mediocre, average, so-so, coucicouci, milk and water, tolerable, fair, passable, pretty well, pretty good, rather good, moderately good, good, good enough, well enough, adequate, decent, not bad, not amiss, inobjectionable, unobjectionable, admissible, bearable, only better than nothing, secondary, inferior, second-rate, second-best, one-horse, almost, to a limited extent, rather, pretty, moderately, passing, only, considering, all things considered, enough, surgit amari aliquid.

Discontinuity

N discontinuity, disjunction, anacoluthon, interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut, gap, solution of continuity, caesura, broken thread, parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork, intermission, alternation, dropping fire, discontinuous, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, dicousu, disconnected, unconnected, discrete, disjunctive, fitful, spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, occasional, intermittent, alternate, recurrent, at intervals, by snatches, by jerks, by skips, by catches, by fits and starts, skippingly, per saltum, longo intervallo, like 'angel visits few and far between'.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Dereliction of Duty

N dereliction of duty, fault, sin, non-observance, non-performance, neglect, relaxation, infraction, violation, transgression, failure, evasion, dead letter.

Vice

N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.

Guilt

N guilt, guiltiness, culpability, criminality, criminousness, deviation from rectitude, sinfulness, misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed, malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression, dereliction, delinquency, indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas, peccadillo, flaw, blot, omission, failing, failure, break, bad break!, capital crime, delictum, offense, trespass, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision, malefaction, malfeasance, malversation, crime, felony, enormity, atrocity, outrage, deadly sin, mortal sin, deed without a name, corpus delicti, guilty, to blame, culpable, peccable, in fault, at fault, censurable, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, illaudable, weighed in the balance and found wanting, exceptionable, in flagrante delicto, red-handed, in the very act, with one's hand in the cookie jar, cui prodest scelus in fecit, culpam paena premit comes, O would the deed were good!, responsibility prevents crimes se judice nemo noce, so many laws argues so many sins.

Error

N error, fallacy, misconception, misapprehension, misstanding, misunderstanding, inexactness, laxity, misconstruction, miscomputation, non sequitur, mis-statement, mis-report, mumpsimus, mistake, miss, fault, blunder, quiproquo, cross purposes, oversight, misprint, erratum, corrigendum, slip, blot, flaw, loose thread, trip, stumble, botchery, slip of the tongue, slip of the lip, Freudian slip, slip of the pen, lapsus linguae, clerical error, bull, haplography, illusion, delusion, snare, false impression, false idea, bubble, self-decit, self-deception, mists of error, heresy, hallucination, false light, dream, fable, bias, misleading, erroneous, untrue, false, devoid of truth, fallacious, apocryphal, unreal, ungrounded, groundless, unsubstantial, heretical, unsound, illogical, inexact, unexact inaccurate, incorrect, indefinite, illusive, illusory, delusive, mock, ideal, spurious, deceitful, perverted, controvertible, unsustainable, unauthenticated, untrustworthy, exploded, refuted, discarded, in error, under an error, mistaken, tripping, out, out in one's reckoning, aberrant, beside the mark, wide of the mark, wide of the truth, way off, far off, astray, on a false scent, on the wrong scent, in the wrong box, outside the ballpark, at cross purposes, all in the wrong, all out, more or less, errare est humanum, mentis gratissimus error, on the dubious waves of error tost, to err is human, to forgive divine, you lie -- under a mistake.