fault

Plural: faults

Noun

a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
- "I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults"
an imperfection in an object or machine
the quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection
- "he knew his own faults much better than she did"
(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other
- "they built it right over a geological fault"
- "he studied the faulting of the earth's crust"
(electronics) equipment failure attributable to some defect in a circuit (loose connection or insulation failure or short circuit etc.)
- "it took much longer to find the fault than to fix it"
responsibility for a bad situation or event
- "it was John's fault"
(sports) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area)
- "he served too many double faults"
Culpability; the responsibility for a blameworthy event.
A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A failing of character; less severe than a vice.
A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A characteristic, positive or negative or both, which increases one's risk of danger or difficulty.
A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A strongly undesirable variation of food or drink caused by impurity or contamination.
A defect, imperfection, or weakness; more severe than a flaw.
A point of weakness in something's physical structure.
A mistake or error.
A minor offense.
A mistake or error.
An illegal serve.
A mistake or error.
A penalty point assessed in horseback events such as show jumping.
A mistake or error.
An exception within a software program or process.
A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
An abnormal connection within an electric circuit.
A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
A loss of the scent being tracked by a hound.
A point at which something is divided, interrupted, or disconnected.
An intrusion of another material, such as dirt or slate, within a coal seam.
want; lack; absence

Verb

Verb Forms: faulted, faulting, faults

To find imperfection in; to criticize or blame.
put or pin the blame on
To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
To fracture.
To commit a mistake or error.
To undergo a page fault.

Examples

Cork taint is one of the most recognizable wine faults.
Despite all her faults, she’s a good person at heart.
I told them the pie was still too hot. If they burn their tongues, that's their fault.
If the horse refuses an obstacle, the rider will receive four faults.
No, don't blame yourself. It's my fault that we lost the game.
You can’t FAULT his strategy; he played every high-value tile perfectly in Scrabble.
You're still young, that's your fault.

Origin / 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.

Synonyms

blame, break, defect, demerit, error, faulting, flaw, fracture, geological fault, mistake, shift, vulnerability

Antonyms

absolve, merit

Scrabble Score: 8

fault: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
fault: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
fault: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

fault: valid Words With Friends Word