Fault

n.	1.	Defect; want; lack; default. One, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend. - Shak.
	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. - Shak.
	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 dislocation of the strata of the vein.
	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. - Shak.
	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. 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. - Robynson (More's Utopia).
v. t.	1.	To charge with a fault; to accuse; to find fault with; to blame. [imp. & p. p. Faulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Faulting.] For that I will not fault thee. - Old Song.
	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.
v. i.	1.	To err; to blunder, to commit a fault; to do wrong. If after Samuel's death the people had asked of God a king, they had not faulted. - Latimer.

Noun	1.	fault - responsibility for a bad situation or event; "it was John's fault"
	2.	fault - (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" Synonyms: geological fault, fracture, break, shift
	3.	fault - the quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection; "they discussed the merits and demerits of her novel"; "he knew his own faults much better than she did" Synonyms: demerit
	4.	fault - a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention; "he made a bad mistake"; "she was quick to point out my errors"; "I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults" Synonyms: error, mistake
	5.	fault - an imperfection in a device or machine; "if there are any defects you should send it back to the manufacturer" Synonyms: flaw, defect
	6.	fault - (sports) a serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area); "he served too many double faults"
	7.	fault - (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"
Verb	1.	fault - put or pin the blame on Synonyms: blame

1.	(programming)	fault - A manifestation of an error in software. A fault, if encountered, may cause a failure.
2.	(architecture)	fault - page fault.

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