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Fault   /fɔlt/   Listen
noun
Fault  n.  
1.
Defect; want; lack; default. "One, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend."
2.
Anything that fails, that is wanting, or that impairs excellence; a failing; a defect; a blemish. "As patches set upon a little breach Discredit more in hiding of the fault."
3.
A moral failing; a defect or dereliction from duty; a deviation from propriety; an offense less serious than a crime.
4.
(Geol. & Mining)
(a)
A dislocation of the strata of the vein.
(b)
In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam; as, slate fault, dirt fault, etc.
5.
(Hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent. "Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, With much ado, the cold fault cleary out."
6.
(Tennis) Failure to serve the ball into the proper court.
7.
(Elec.) 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.
8.
(Geol. & Mining) A dislocation caused by a slipping of rock masses along a plane of facture; also, the dislocated structure resulting from such slipping. Note: 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 of the fault; the vertical displacement is the throw of the fault; the horizontal displacement is the heave of the fault. 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.
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."
Synonyms: Error; blemish; defect; imperfection; weakness; blunder; failing; vice. Fault, Failing, Defect, Foible. A fault is positive, something morally wrong; a failing is negative, some weakness or falling short in a man's character, disposition, or habits; a defect is also negative, and as applied to character is the absence of anything which is necessary to its completeness or perfection; a foible is a less important weakness, which we overlook or smile at. A man may have many failings, and yet commit but few faults; or his faults and failings may be few, while his foibles are obvious to all. The faults of a friend are often palliated or explained away into mere defects, and the defects or foibles of an enemy exaggerated into faults. "I have failings in common with every human being, besides my own peculiar faults; but of avarice I have generally held myself guiltless." "Presumption and self-applause are the foibles of mankind."


verb
Fault  v. t.  (past & past part. faulted; pres. part. faulting)  
1.
To charge with a fault; to accuse; to find fault with; to blame. (Obs.) "For that I will not fault thee."
2.
(Geol.) 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.


Fault  v. i.  To err; to blunder, to commit a fault; to do wrong. (Obs.) "If after Samuel's death the people had asked of God a king, they had not faulted."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Fault" Quotes from Famous Books



... the time were, and have since been, bestowed upon Jackson, and all the blame of things was, and has since been, laid upon the shoulders of Van Buren. But the fault was not Van Buren's. A number of causes had produced this surprising and distressing state of affairs. After the great success of the Erie and other canals in the East, Western States entered upon an era of canal building which the richest of communities could ill have ...
— Expansion and Conflict • William E. Dodd
... overcome the tendency to make a return without knowing where it will hit. Making returns blindly is a bad habit and leads to instinctive returns—that is, habitual returns with certain attacks from certain parries—a fault which the ...
— Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry • War Department
... of Varon is strictly just; but, in truth, severe. You French critics seek for a fault as eagerly as I do for a beauty: you consider things in the worst light, to show your skill, at the expense of your pleasure; I view them in the best, that I may have more pleasure, though at the expense of my judgment. A 'trompeur trompeur et demi' is prettily ...
— The PG Edition of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son • The Earl of Chesterfield
... out of their disappointment quarreled bitterly and by their quarrels helped to destroy an agency through which in the past they had worked together, with a remarkable devotion to the public interest, for the achievement of great objectives. No doubt, their greatest fault had been to set their goals too high. Certainly, their greatest virtue was persistence in the faith that great things could be done for England in America, a faith destined in time to be justified by the ...
— The Virginia Company Of London, 1606-1624 • Wesley Frank Craven
... entreaty to the God who had made him, and who withdrew Himself so relentlessly within the blank sky, that a blessing might tall upon the stony wilderness. But this blessing was withheld; whether by his own fault, or through the just will of the Father, Hugh could not wholly discern. The hard fact remained that the inner fortress was blank and bare, and that no friend or lover could ...
— Beside Still Waters • Arthur Christopher Benson


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