Definition of "fault"

fault

/fɔːlt/

noun
plural faults
1. A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
  Quotations
  As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault.
  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, [Act IV, scene ii]
2. A mistake or error.
  Quotations
  They shoot first and ask questions last / Could be yours, could be mine / And then they point the finger at you / How many more innocent people and kids gotta get killed by these police, man? / And then it's always the victim's fault
  2020, Body Count (lyrics and music), “Point the Finger”
3. A weakness of character; a failing.
4. A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which subjects a person or thing to increased risk of danger.
  Quotations
  1970, Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman, Father and Son
  The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
  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, [Act I, scene ii]
5. A minor offense.
6. Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.
  Quotations
  A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a note found at the scene addressed to Ms. [Kate] Spade's 13-year-old daughter indicated, among other things, that what had happened was not the child’s fault.
  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, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, archived from the original on 6 June 2018
7. (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
8. (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam.
9. (tennis) An illegal serve.
10. (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
11. (obsolete) want; lack
  Quotations
  one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend
  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, [Act I, scene iv]
12. (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
  Quotations
  Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.The spelling has been modernized.
  1593, 1896
verb
third-person singular simple present faults, present participle faulting, simple past and past participle faulted
1. (transitive) To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
  Quotations
  For that, says he, I ne'er will fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.
  a. 1723, unknown author, The Devonshire Nymph
2. (intransitive, geology) To fracture.
3. (intransitive) To commit a mistake or error.
4. (intransitive, computing) To undergo a page fault.
  Quotations
  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.
  2002, Æleen Frisch, Essential system administration

Definition of "fault"

fault

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