fault
noun
[ fɔːlt ]
• an unattractive or unsatisfactory feature, especially in a piece of work or in a person's character.
• "my worst fault is impatience"
• responsibility for an accident or misfortune.
• "if books were not selling, it wasn't the fault of the publishers"
• an extended break in a rock formation, marked by the relative displacement and discontinuity of strata on either side of a particular plane.
• "a landscape broken by numerous faults"
fault
verb
• criticize for inadequacy or mistakes.
• "her superiors could not fault her dedication to the job"
Similar:
find fault with,
find lacking,
criticize,
attack,
censure,
condemn,
impugn,
reproach,
reprove,
run down,
take to task,
haul over the coals,
complain about,
quibble about,
carp about,
moan about,
grouse about,
grouch about,
whine about,
arraign,
knock,
slam,
hammer,
lay into,
gripe about,
beef about,
bellyache about,
bitch about,
nitpick over,
pick holes in,
sound off about,
slag off,
have a go at,
whinge about,
give some stick to,
slate,
rubbish,
• (of a rock formation) be broken by a fault or faults.
• "the continental crust has been thinned and faulted as a result of geological processes"
Origin:
Middle English faut(e) ‘lack, failing’, from Old French, based on Latin fallere ‘deceive’. The -l- was added (in French and English) in the 15th century to conform with the Latin word, but did not become standard in English until the 17th century, remaining silent in pronunciation until well into the 18th.
at fault
• responsible for an undesirable situation; in the wrong.
• "we recover compensation from the person at fault"
Similar:
to blame,
blameworthy,
blameable,
censurable,
reproachable,
culpable,
accountable,
answerable,
responsible,
guilty,
in the wrong,
offending,
erring,
errant,
• defective.
• "he suspected that his calculator was at fault"
