de·fault (dĭ-fôlt')
n.

1. Failure to perform a task or fulfill an obligation, especially failure to meet a financial obligation: in default on a loan.
2. Law. Failure to make a required court appearance.
3. The failure of one or more competitors or teams to participate in a contest: won the championship by default.
4. 1. Computer Science. A particular setting or value for a variable that is assigned automatically by an operating system and remains in effect unless canceled or overridden by the operator: changed the default for the font in the word processing program.
   2. A situation or condition that obtains in the absence of active intervention.

v., -fault·ed, -fault·ing, -faults.

v.intr.

1. 1. To fail to do what is required.
   2. To fail to pay money when it is due.
2. Law.
   1. To fail to appear in court when summoned.
   2. To lose a case by not appearing.
3. To fail to take part in or complete a scheduled contest.

v.tr.

1. To fail to perform or pay.
2. Law. To lose (a case) by failing to appear in court.
3. To fail to take part in or complete (a contest, for example).

idiom:

in default of

1. Through the failure, absence, or lack of.

[Middle English defaute, from Old French, from past participle of defaillir, to fail, grow weak : de-, intensive pref.; see de- + faillir; see fail.]

defaulter de·fault'er n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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