faults

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fault.

   Engineers inspected the bridge for structural faults.

   Geologists mapped the faults running beneath the valley.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. As a noun plural it gathers the countable faults of the singular: failings of character milder than vices, minor offenses, the contamination flaws that spoil food or drink. The same letters also spell the verb form, and position tells them apart. After a possessive or article it is the noun (her faults). After a subject it is the verb (she faults the plan).

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of fault.

   The critic faults the novel for its slow opening.

   No one faults her for leaving such a demanding job.

   Note

   Whether an object follows decides the meaning. With one, the verb blames: she faults the plan, he faults himself. Without one, it reports something going wrong in the subject itself. A person errs, something fractures, and in computing a process faults when it undergoes a page fault. The blaming use often adds for and the reason.

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