<B>fault, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>something that is not as it should be; defect; flaw. <BR> <I>Ex. Her dog has two faults; it eats too much, and it howls at night. Sloppiness is his greatest fault. A fault in wiring started the fire. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves that we are underlings (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a mistake; error; failure in what is attempted. <BR> <I>Ex. a fault in the answer to an arithmetic problem.</I> (SYN) slip, lapse. <DD><B> 3. </B>a misdeed or offense. <BR> <I>Ex. Cleanse thou me from secret faults (Psalms 19:12).</I> (SYN) transgression. <DD><B> 4. </B>cause for blame; responsibility. <BR> <I>Ex. Whose fault was it?</I> (SYN) culpability. <DD><B> 5. </B>a break in the earth's crust, with the mass of rock on one side of the break pushed up, down, or sideways. <DD><B> 6a. </B>a failure to serve the ball properly or into the right place in tennis and similar games. <DD><B> b. </B>a served ball that does not fall in the proper court. <DD><B> 7. </B>an accidental defect in an electric circuit. <DD><B> 8. </B>a break in the line of scent in hunting; loss of the scent. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Archaic.) lack; want. <BR> <I>Ex. ... one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Obsolete.) default; failing; neglect. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>(Geology.) (of rock strata) to undergo a fault or faults. <DD><B> 2. </B>to commit a fault. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>(Geology.) to cause a fault in. <DD><B> 2. </B>to find fault with. <BR> <I>Ex. We could not fault him on his knowledge of algebra. It is difficult ... to fault the logic which leads to these gloomy conclusions (Stewart Alsop).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>at fault,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>deserving blame; wrong. </I> <I>Ex. Nature ... has been at fault (Leslie Stephen). Whether it's the church or the state (or both) that's at fault ... , the result is the same (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>uncertain. <BR> <I>Ex. His theory was entirely at fault and was therefore unacceptable.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>unable to pick up a lost scent in hunting. <BR> <I>Ex. They [bloodhounds] are at fault ... by overrunning the line (London Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>find fault,</B> </I>to find mistakes; complain. <BR> <I>Ex. Why do you find fault so much?</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>find fault with,</B> </I>to object to; criticize. <BR> <I>Ex. He found fault with very small and unimportant details and overlooked the main idea.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in fault,</B> </I>deserving blame; wrong. <BR> <I>Ex. When weak poets go astray, The stars are more in fault than they (Winthrop M. Praed).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>to a fault,</B> </I>too much; excessively. <BR> <I>Ex. Grandmother is generous to a fault. The actor played his part to a fault and looked silly before the audience.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="faultblock">
<B>fault block,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Geology.) a mass of displaced rock between two faults, lifted above or sunk below the general level. </DL>
<A NAME="faultbreccia">
<B>fault breccia,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Geology.) a breccia formed by the crushing of rock along a fault. </DL>
<A NAME="faultfinder">
<B>faultfinder, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who finds fault; person who complains. <DD><B> 2. </B>a device for locating defects, such as one in an electric circuit. </DL>
<A NAME="faultfinding">
<B>faultfinding, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the act of finding fault. <DD><I>adj. </I> finding fault; complaining; pointing out faults. (SYN) captious, critical. </DL>
<B>faulting, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Geology.) the formation of a fault. </DL>
<A NAME="faultless">
<B>faultless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without a single fault or defect; free from blemish or error; perfect. <BR> <I>Ex. Faultless beauty is rare. Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be (Alexander Pope).</I> (SYN) unblemished, flawless, blameless, impeccable, irreproachable. adv. <B>faultlessly.</B> noun <B>faultlessness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="faultline">
<B>fault line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Geology.) a line which marks the intersection of a fault plane with the earth's surface. </DL>
<A NAME="faultplane">
<B>fault plane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Geology.) the plane along which faulting occurs. </DL>
<A NAME="faultscarp">
<B>fault scarp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a steep slope resulting from movement along a fault. </DL>
<A NAME="faulty">
<B>faulty, </B>adjective, <B>faultier,</B> <B>faultiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having faults; containing blemishes or errors; wrong; imperfect; defective. <BR> <I>Ex. a faulty design, a faulty principle. The leak in the faucet was caused by a faulty valve. Faulty friends (Robert Browning).</I> (SYN) incomplete, unsound. <DD><B> 2. </B>blamable. (SYN) culpable, reprehensible, censurable. adv. <B>faultily.</B> noun <B>faultiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="faultzone">
<B>fault zone,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Engineering.) a pocket of shattered rock encountered in building a mountain tunnel. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Geology.) an area containing many small faults. </DL>
<A NAME="faun">
<B>faun, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a minor god in Roman myths that lived in fields and woods and helped farmers and shepherds. A faun was supposed to look like a man, but to have the ears, horns, tail, and sometimes the legs, of a goat. adj. <B>faunlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fauna">
<B>fauna, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nas,</B> <B>-nae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the animals or animal life of a given region or time. <BR> <I>Ex. the fauna of Australia. The lands around the polar sea ... contain a rich flora and fauna including such land animals as the reindeer, the polar bear, and the musk ox (Gabriele Rabel).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a treatise on the animals of any geographical area or geological period. </DL>
<A NAME="faunal">
<B>faunal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a fauna or faunas. adv. <B>faunally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="faunalanalysis">
<B>faunal analysis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaeology.) the study of animal bones to identify, date, and trace them back to their source. </DL>
<A NAME="faunistic">
<B>faunistic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of a fauna; faunal. <BR> <I>Ex. Each continental area has in fact three main floristic and faunistic elements (New Scientist).</I> adv. <B>faunistically.</B> </DL>
<B>faunology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the study of the geographical distribution of animals; zoogeography. </DL>
<A NAME="fauntleroy">
<B>Fauntleroy, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or resembling the appearance of Lord Fauntleroy, the seven-year-old hero of the novel <I>Little Lord Fauntleroy</I> (1886) by Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wears velvet suits, lace collars, and frilled shirts. <BR> <I>Ex. He dressed the boy in Fauntleroy clothes and kept his hair in curls (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="faunule">
<B>faunule, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small fauna of fossils, especially a subdivision of a fauna consisting of a local group of fossils found in successive beds of a given rock formation. </DL>
<A NAME="faunus">
<B>Faunus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Roman Mythology.) a rural deity, god of animals and plants, identified with the Greek Pan. </DL>
<A NAME="faust">
<B>Faust, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (German Legend.) a man who sold his soul to the Devil in return for youth, knowledge, and magic powers. </DL>
<A NAME="faustian">
<B>Faustian, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with Faust, especially with regard to his legendary relationship with the Devil. <BR> <I>Ex. A kind of Faustian legend involving a worker in the Hollywood vineyard who sacrifices his soul for assorted emoluments (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="faustus">
<B>Faustus, </B>noun. <B>=Faust.</B></DL>
<A NAME="fautedemieux">
<B>faute de mieux,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) for want of something better. <BR> <I>Ex. Many married couples grow close with age, in part faute de mieux (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fauteuil">
<B>fauteuil, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>an armchair. <DD><B> 2. </B>an official chair. <DD><B> 3. </B>a seat or membership in the French Academy. </DL>
<B>Fauves, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> a group of French artists, including Matisse and Braque, whose paintings represent a radical form of expressionism, using brilliant colors and bold designs. </DL>
<A NAME="fauvism">
<B>Fauvism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the theories and style of painting of the Fauves, developed in France in the early 1900's. <DD><B> 2. </B>the school or movement of the Fauves. </DL>
<A NAME="fauvist">
<B>Fauvist, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or in the style of the Fauves. <BR> <I>Ex. bright Fauvist landscapes.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> one of the Fauves. </DL>
<A NAME="faux">
<B>faux, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> fake; imitation. <BR> <I>Ex. In Cleveland a plagiarism suit between two faux Elvises resulted in the defendant's singing "Burnin' Love" in an actual courtroom (Spy Magazine). </I> </DL>
<A NAME="fauxbourdon">
<B>fauxbourdon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a form of harmonic progression in three parts in which the lowest voice or bass moves in parallel sixths with the highest voice and in thirds with the middle voice. </DL>
<A NAME="fauxnaif">
<B>faux-naif, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>feignedly naive; mock naive. <BR> <I>Ex. This simplicity is neither naive folksiness nor faux-naif sophistication (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) false-naive. </DL>
<A NAME="fauxpas">
<B>faux pas, </B>pl. <B>faux pas,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a slip in speech, conduct, or manners; breach of etiquette; blunder. </DL>
<A NAME="fava">
<B>fava, </B>noun, or <B>fava bean,</B> <B>=broad bean.</B></DL>
<A NAME="fave">
<B>fave, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a favorite. </DL>
<A NAME="favela">
<B>favela, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Portuguese.) a shantytown or slum. <BR> <I>Ex. She reports on the mores of the wealthy Brazilians, bitterly contrasted with the abysmal poverty in Rio's favelas (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="favelado">
<B>favelado, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Portuguese.) a person who lives in a favela; a slum dweller. </DL>
