fault

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. failing, shortcoming, peccadillo; flaw, blemish, defect, imperfection; error, slip, inadvertency; sin, [venial] sin, [minor] vice. See guilt, failure.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [An imperfection]

Syn. flaw, defect, shortcoming, deficiency; see blemish , defect 2 .

2. [A moral delinquency]

Syn. misdemeanor, weakness, failing, foible, vice, offense, wrongdoing, misdeed, transgression, crime, sin, impropriety, solecism, moral shortcoming, frailty, evil doing, delinquency, trespass, fall from virtue, fall from grace, loss of innocence, misconduct, dereliction, malpractice, malefaction, malfeasance, peccadillo, sins of omission and commission.

3. [An error]

Syn. blunder, mistake, lapse; see error 1 .

4. [Responsibility]

Syn. liability, accountability, blame; see guilt , responsibility 2 .

• at fault,

Syn. culpable, blamable, in the wrong; see guilty 2 .

• find fault with,

Syn. complain about, carp at, criticize; see censure .

• to a fault,

Syn. too much, excessively, to excess; see very .

Syn.- fault , in this comParison, refers to a definite, although not strongly condemnatory, imperfection in character [ her only fault is stubbornness ] ; failing implies an even less serious shortcoming, usually a common one [ tardiness was one of his failings] ; weakness applies to a minor shortcoming that results from a lack of perfect self-control [ talking too much is my weakness] ; foible refers to a slight weakness that is regarded more as an amusing idiosyncrasy than an actual defect in character [ eating desserts first is one of his foibles] ; vice , although stronger in its implication of moral failure than any of the preceding terms, does not in this connection necessarily suggest actual depravity or wickedness [ gambling is his only vice] v.

Syn. blame, criticize, charge, accuse; see censure .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

1. defect imperfect, flaw, shortcoming, weakness, failing, *bug, blemish, stain. ''The greatest . . . is to be conscious of none.''— Thomas Carlyle.

2. mistake error, slipup, lapse, blunder, *goof, blame, wrongdoing, liability, guilt, responsibility.

ANT.: 1. virtue, strength. 2. credit

II

v.

blame, criticize, reproach, reprove, impugn, accuse, *wag one's finger at, shame.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. An imperfection of character: failing, foible, frailty, infirmity, shortcoming, weakness, weak point. See BETTER, HELP. 2. Something that mars the appearance or causes inadequacy or failure: blemish, bug, defect, flaw, imperfection, shortcoming. See BEAUTIFUL, BETTER, HELP. 3. Responsibility for an error or crime: blame, culpability, guilt, onus. See START. II verb To find fault with: blame, censure, criticize, rap1. Informal: cut up, pan. Slang: knock. See PRAISE.