fault

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fault
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fault

normal fault
reverse fault
strike-slip fault
(Precision Graphics)
(fôlt) pronunciation
n.
    1. A character weakness, especially a minor one.
    2. Something that impairs or detracts from physical perfection; a defect. See synonyms at blemish.
    3. A mistake; an error.
    4. A minor offense or misdeed.
  1. Responsibility for a mistake or an offense; culpability. See synonyms at blame.
  2. 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.
  3. Electronics. A defect in a circuit or wiring caused by imperfect connections, poor insulation, grounding, or shorting.
  4. Sports. A bad service, as in tennis.
  5. Obsolete. A lack or deficiency.

v., fault·ed, fault·ing, faults.

v.tr.
  1. To find error or defect in; criticize or blame.
  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.
idioms:

at fault

  1. Deserving of blame; guilty: admitted to being at fault.
  2. Confused and puzzled.
find fault
  1. To seek, find, and complain about faults; criticize: found fault with his speech.
to a fault
  1. 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.]



A fracture or zone of fractures in a planet's crust, accompanied by displacement of the opposing sides.

In geology, a fracture in the rocks of the Earth's crust, where compressional or tensional forces cause the rocks on the opposite sides of the fracture to be displaced relative to each other. Faults range in length from a few inches to hundreds of miles, and displacement may also range from less than an inch to hundreds of miles along the fracture surface (the fault plane). Most, if not all, earthquakes are caused by rapid movement along faults. Faults are common throughout the world. A well-known example is the San Andreas Fault near the western coast of the U.S. The total movement along this fault during the last few million years appears to have been several miles.

For more information on fault, visit Britannica.com.

An error or failure. A software fault, also known as a "crash" or "abend," is when the program directs the computer to go outside of its restricted memory boundary. A hardware fault is a failure in one of the circuits. See fault detection, fault isolation and fault management. See also page fault.

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noun

  1. An imperfection of character: failing, foible, frailty, infirmity, shortcoming, weakness, weak point. See better/worse, help/harm/harmless.
  2. Something that mars the appearance or causes inadequacy or failure: blemish, bug, defect, flaw, imperfection, shortcoming. See beautiful/ugly, better/worse, help/harm/harmless.
  3. Responsibility for an error or crime: blame, culpability, guilt, onus. See start/end.

verb

    To find fault with: blame, censure, criticize, rap1. Informal cut up, pan. Slang knock. See praise/blame.


n

Definition: blame, sin; mistake
Antonyms: advantage, benefit, blessing, correctness, good, perfection

n

Definition: physical defect
Antonyms: perfection, soundness, strength

A fractured surface in the earth's crust along which rocks have travelled relative to each other; the fault bounding the Teton Range, Wyoming, for example, is nearly 50 km long, with an estimated vertical throw of about 6000 m. Usually, faults occur together in large numbers, parallel to each other or crossing each other at different angles; these are then described as a fault system. The slope of the fault is known as the dip. Where rocks have moved down the dip there is a normal fault; where rocks have moved up the dip, there is a reverse fault.

A thrust fault is a reverse fault where the angle of dip is very shallow and an overthrust fault has a nearly horizontal dip. A fault plane is the surface against which the movement takes place. A tear fault is where movement along the fault plane is lateral. This latter type of fault may be termed a strike-slip fault.

Regions, such as the Harz of Germany, that are split by faults into upland horsts or depressed rift valleys are said to be block faulted.

FIGURE 24: Fault
Fault

A defect in the insulation or conductive capability of any component or device in an electric circuit, resulting in an interruption of current flow or in an unintended path of current flow of abnormal magnitude.


fault, in geology, fracture in the earth's crust in which the rock on one side of the fracture has measurable movement in relation to the rock on the other side. Faults on other planets and satellites of the solar system also have been recognized. Evidence of faults are found either at the surface (fault surface) or underground (fault plane). Faults are most evident in outcrops of sedimentary formations where they conspicuously offset previously continuous strata. Movement along a fault plane may be vertical, horizontal, or oblique in direction, or it may consist in the rotation of one or both of the fault blocks, with most movements associated with mountain building and plate tectonics. The two classes of faults include the dip-slip (up and down movement), which is further divided into normal and thrust (reverse) faults; and strike-slip (movement parallel to the fault plane). The San Andreas fault of California is of this type. In dip-slip faults the term "hanging wall" is used for the side that lies vertically above the other, called the "footwall." A fault in which the hanging wall moves down and the footwall is stationary is called a normal fault. Normal faults are formed by tensional, or pull-apart, forces. A fault in which the hanging wall is the upthrown side is called a thrust fault because the hanging wall appears to have been pushed up over the footwall. Such faults are formed by compressional forces that push rock together and are by far the most common of the dip-slip faults. All types of faults have been recognized on the ocean floor: normal faults occur in the rift valleys associated with mid ocean ridges spreading at slow rates; strike-slip faults appear between the offset portions of mid-ocean ridges; and thrust faults occur at subducting plate boundaries. Active faults, though they may not move for decades, can move many feet in a matter of seconds, producing an earthquake. The largest earthquakes occur along thrust faults. Some faults creep from a half inch to as much as 4 in. (1 to 10 cm) per year. Fault movements are measured using laser and other devices. Faults create interpretation problems for geologists by altering the relations of strata (see stratification), such as making the same rock layer offset in two vertical cross sections of a formation or making layers disappear altogether. Faults are often seen on the surface as topographical features, including offset streams, linear lakes, and fault scarps.


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A fracture along which there has been movement or displacement.

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Quotes:

"None of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves." - Oscar Wilde

"We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies it is the first law of nature." - Voltaire

"A fault that humbles a man is of greater value than a virtue that puffs him up." - Source Unknown

"When looking for faults use a mirror, not a telescope" - Source Unknown

"A spirit to find fault is an enemy to your peace and comfort, and also to the happiness of those around you. It is the key to your destruction." - Source Unknown

"Faults are beauties in a lovers eye." - Theocritus

See more famous quotes about Faults

In geology, a place where sections of the crust of the Earth move relative to each other. (See earthquake and San Andreas fault.)

  • Faults tend to occur near the edges of tectonic plates.
  • Random House Word Menu:

    categories related to 'fault'

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    Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
    For a list of words related to fault, see:

      See crossword solutions for the clue Fault.

    Fault may refer to:

    • Fault (geology), planar rock fractures which show evidence of relative movement
    • Fault (dog), in dog breeding, is an undesirable aspect of structure or appearance that indicates the dog should not be bred
    • Fault (legal), in criminal law, one must determine fault in a crime
    • Fault (technology), an abnormal condition or defect at the component, equipment, or sub-system level which may lead to a failure
    • Fault (tennis), a serve that fails to place a tennis ball in the correct area of play
    • Fault (power engineering), an unintended electrical connection, a "short circuit", may be an asymmetric or a symmetric fault
    • Fault (computing), a type of interrupt in software or operating systems
    • A penalty in show jumping applied in scoring horse and rider performance

    See also


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    Dansk (Danish)
    n. - fejl, skyld, forkastning
    v. tr. - finde fejl ved, forskyde, kritisere
    v. intr. - fejle, begå en fejl, forårsage en forkastning

    idioms:

    • at fault    være forvirret, have skylden
    • to a fault    i urimelig grad

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    schuld, fout, euvel, onvolkomenheid, slechte eigenschap, overtreding, (aard)breuk, foute service (tennis), een fout maken, een (aard) breuk veroorzaken, fout vinden in, berispen

    Français (French)
    n. - faute, vice, défaut, imperfection, panne
    v. tr. - prendre qn en défaut, reprocher qch à qn, trouver un défaut dans
    v. intr. - être la faute de qn

    idioms:

    • at fault    fautif, en tort, à blâmer
    • to a fault    à l'excès

    Deutsch (German)
    n. - Schuld, Verschulden, Fehler, Mangel, Defekt, Verwerfung
    v. - etwas auszusetzen haben

    idioms:

    • at fault    schuldig
    • to a fault    übermäßig

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    n. - ατέλεια, ελάττωμα, κουσούρι, λάθος, φταίξιμο, (γεωλ.) (τεκτονικό) ρήγμα
    v. - διαπράττω ατόπημα ή σφάλμα, ψέγω

    idioms:

    • at fault    εν αδίκω
    • to a fault    μέχρις υπερβολής

    Italiano (Italian)
    colpa, colpevolezza, errore, difetto

    idioms:

    • at fault    colpevole
    • to a fault    eccessivamente

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - falta (f), defeito (m)
    v. - cometer erro ou falta

    idioms:

    • at fault    errado
    • to a fault    em demasia

    Русский (Russian)
    недостаток, дефект, вина, ошибка, промах, проступок, нарушение, замыкание, разлом

    idioms:

    • at fault    виноватый, ошибаться
    • to a fault    слишком, чрезмерно

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - culpa, culpabilidad, defecto, falta, desperfecto, vicio, deficiencia, imperfección, error, pelota extraviada, (geol) falla, (elect) fuga de corriente, (cacería) pérdida del olfato
    v. tr. - producir falla, culpar
    v. intr. - (geol) quebrar produciendo falla, cometer una falla

    idioms:

    • at fault    tener la culpa, perplejo
    • to a fault    excesivamente

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - fel, skuld, felserve (tennis), förkastning (geol.)
    v. - anmärka på, döma för felserve, förkasta (geol.), serva fel, förkasta sig (geol.)

    中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
    过错, 毛病, 故障, 挑剔, 弄错

    idioms:

    • at fault    感到困惑, 有故障
    • to a fault    过分

    中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
    n. - 過錯, 毛病, 故障
    v. tr. - 挑剔
    v. intr. - 弄錯

    idioms:

    • at fault    感到困惑, 有故障
    • to a fault    過分

    한국어 (Korean)
    n. - 결점, 단점, 잘못
    v. tr. - ~의 흠을 찾다, ~비난하다
    v. intr. - 과오를 범하다

    idioms:

    • at fault    어쩔 줄을 모르고, 죄가 있어, 잘못하여
    • to a fault    지나치게, 극단적으로

    日本語 (Japanese)
    n. - 欠点, 短所, 欠陥, 誤り, 過失, 落ち度, 断層, 責任, 罪, フォールト, あら
    v. - …にけちを付ける, 断層を生じる

    idioms:

    • at fault    臭跡を失って, 途方に暮れて
    • to a fault    極端に

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(الاسم) عيب , ذنب , خطأ , غلطه (فعل) يخطأ , يزل , يعيب‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮טעות, פגם, תקלה, ליקוי, עבירה, אשמה, בקע גיאולוגי‬
    v. tr. - ‮מצא פגם ב-, האשים, ביקע שכבה גיאולוגית‬
    v. intr. - ‮שגה, עשה דבר שלא כהלכה‬


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