fault

top: normal fault

center: reverse fault

bottom: strike-slip fault

fault

(fôlt)

a. A character weakness, especially a minor one.

b. Something that impairs or detracts from physical perfection; a defect. See Synonyms at blemish.

c. A mistake; an error: a grammatical fault; a fault in his reasoning.

d. A minor offense or misdeed: committed her share of youthful faults.

2. Responsibility for a mistake or an offense; culpability. See Synonyms at blame.

3. Geology A fracture in the continuity of a rock formation caused by a shifting or dislodging of the earth's crust, in which adjacent surfaces are displaced relative to one another and parallel to the plane of fracture. Also called shift.

4. Electronics A defect in a circuit or wiring caused by imperfect connections, poor insulation, grounding, or shorting.

5. Sports A service of the ball that violates the rules in tennis and similar games.

6. Archaic A lack or deficiency.

v. fault·ed, fault·ing, faults

v.tr.

1. To find error or defect in; criticize or blame: faulted the author for poor research; faulted the book for inaccuracies.

2. Geology To produce a fault in; fracture.

v.intr.

1. To commit a mistake or an error.

2. Geology To shift so as to produce a fault.

3. Sports To commit a fault, as in tennis.

Idioms:

at fault

1. Deserving of blame; guilty: admitted to being at fault.

2. Confused and puzzled.

find fault

To seek, find, and complain about faults; criticize: found fault with his speech.

to a fault

To an excessive degree: generous to a fault.

[Middle English faulte, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *fallita, from variant of Latin falsa, feminine past participle of fallere, to deceive, fail.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Verb

find fault - harass with constant criticism; "Don't always pick on your little brother"

blame, pick

criticise, criticize, pick apart, knock - find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws; "The paper criticized the new movie"; "Don't knock the food--it's free"

Translations

kritteln

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Tom, you ought to say so too; you ought not to let any one find fault with my father."

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But that sort of conduct is to the world's credit; therefore it is not well to find fault with it.

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This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity.

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Adam saw that Dinah was more disturbed than he had ever seen her by any matter relating to herself, and, anxious to relieve her, if possible, he said, looking at her affectionately, "Nay, I can't find fault with anything Dinah does.

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Critics, he says, jump at certain groundless conclusions; they pass adverse judgment and then proceed to reason on it; and, assuming that the poet has said whatever they happen to think, find fault if a thing is inconsistent with their own fancy.

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She had been a friend and companion such as few possessed: intelligent, wellinformed, useful, gentle, knowing all the ways of the family, interested in all its concerns, and peculiarly interested in herself, in every pleasure, every scheme of hers one to whom she could speak every thought as it arose, and who had such an affection for her as could never find fault.

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The very next morning he began to be irritable, and seemed doing his best to find fault with his brother, attacking him on his tenderest points.

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I did not imagine that anybody could find fault with it; but I was mistaken.

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And as for the farm, if anything turns out wrong, as it can't but do in these times, there's nothing kills a man so soon as having nobody to find fault with but himself.

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"Do not find fault child," said Euryclea, "when there is no one to find fault with.

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It is easy to find fault, if one has that disposition.

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Zenobia, though doubtful of the girl's efficiency, was tempted by the freedom to find fault without much risk of losing her; and so Mattie came to Starkfield.

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