1. A wrong action attributable to bad judgment, ignorance or inattention
   "I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults";
   - mistake, error
    
2. An imperfection in an object or machine
   "if there are any faults you should send it back to the manufacturer";
   - defect, flaw
    
3. The quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection
   "he knew his own faults much better than she did";
   - demerit
    
4. Responsibility for a bad situation or event
   "it was John's fault"
    
5. (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";
   - faulting, geological fault, shift, fracture, break
    
6. (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"
    
7. (sport) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area)
   "he served too many double faults"

1. Put or pin the blame on
   "He faulted his colleagues for the project's failure";
   - blame
    
2. Commit a mistake or make an error
   "Students often fault in their first attempts at complex maths problems"
    
3. (tennis) serve the ball into the net or outside the service court
   "He faulted on his first serve"

Derived forms: faults, faulting, faulted

Type of: accuse, breakdown, charge, cleft, crack, crevice, equipment failure, fissure, imperfection, imperfectness, merit, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, responsibility, responsibleness, scissure, serve, service, value, worth

Encyclopedia: Fault