A wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention:
— I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults.

synonyms: error, mistake.

Roget 947: guilt, guiltiness; culpability; criminality, criminousness^†; deviation from rectitude etc. (improbity) 940^†; sinfulness etc. (vice) 945.    misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed; malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression; dereliction, delinquency; indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas [Fr.], peccadillo; flaw, blot, omission; failing, failure; break, bad break! [U.S.], capital crime, delictum [Lat.].    offense, trespass; misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision; malefaction, malfeasance, malversation; crime, felony.    enormity, atrocity, outrage; deadly sin, mortal sin; deed without a name" [Macbeth]. corpus delicti.    ... show more

Roget 945: vice; evil-doing, evil courses; wrongdoing; wickedness, viciousness etc. adj.; iniquity, peccability^†, demerit; sin, Adam^†; old Adam^†, offending Adam^†.    immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals; enphagy^†, dophagy^†, exophagy^†; want of principle, want of ballast; obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity^†, depravity, pollution; hardness of heart; brutality etc. (malevolence) 907; corruption etc. (debasement) 659; knavery etc. (improbity) 940^†; profligacy; flagrancy, atrocity; cannibalism; lesbianism, Sadism.    infirmity; weakness etc. adj.; weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection; error; weak side; foible; failing, failure; crying sin, besetting sin; defect, deficiency; cloven foot.    lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den^†; gusto picaresco [It].    fault, crime; criminality etc. (guilt) 947.    sinner etc. 949.    [Resorts] brothel etc. 961; gambling house etc. 621; joint [Slang], opium den, shooting gallery, crack house.    ... show more

Roget 927: dereliction of duty; fault etc. (guilt) 947; sin etc. (vice) 945; non-observance, non-performance; neglect, relaxation, infraction, violation, transgression, failure, evasion; dead letter.    ... show more

Roget 732: failure; nonsuccess^†, nonfulfillment; dead failure, successlessness^†; abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen etc. 158 [Lat.]; labor in vain etc. (inutility) 645; no go; inefficacy^†; inefficaciousness etc. adj.; vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts; flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion" [Othello]; frustration; slip 'twixt cup and lip etc. (disappointment) 509.    blunder etc. (mistake) 495; fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication^†, footfall; false step, wrong step; faux pas [Fr.], titubation^†, b_evue [Fr.], faute [Fr.], lurch; botchery etc. (want of skill) 699^†; scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown; flunk [U.S.].    mishap etc. (misfortune) 735; split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion.    repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture; beating, drubbing; quietus, nonsuit^†, subjugation; checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate.    fall, downfall, ruin, perdition; wreck etc. (destruction) 162; deathblow; bankruptcy etc. (nonpayment) 808.    losing game, affaire flamb_ee.    victim; bankrupt; flunker^†, flunky [U.S.].    ... show more

Roget 495: error, fallacy; misconception, misapprehension, misstanding^†, misunderstanding; inexactness etc. adj.; laxity; misconstruction etc. (misinterpretation) 523; miscomputation etc. (misjudgment) 481; non sequitur etc. 477; mis-statement, mis-report; mumpsimus^†.    mistake; miss, fault, blunder, quiproquo, cross purposes, oversight, misprint, erratum, corrigendum, slip, blot, flaw, loose thread; trip, stumble etc. (failure) 732; botchery etc. (want of skill) 699^†; slip of the tongue, slip of the lip, Freudian slip; slip of the pen; lapsus linguae [Lat.], clerical error; bull etc. (absurdity) 497; haplography^†.    illusion, delusion; snare; false impression, false idea; bubble; self-decit, self-deception; mists of error.    heresy etc. (heterodoxy) 984; hallucination etc. (insanity) 503; false light etc. (fallacy of vision) 443; dream etc. (fancy) 515; fable etc. (untruth) 546; bias etc. (misjudgment) 481; misleading etc. v.. ... show more

Dutch: abuis, afdwaling, feil, fout, lapsus, onjuistheid, vergissing, verwarring
Polish: pomylenie się, potknięcie się, omylenie się

An imperfection in an object or machine.

synonyms: defect, flaw.

Roget 651: imperfection; imperfectness etc. adj.; deficiency; inadequacy etc. (insufficiency) 640; peccancy etc. (badness) 649^†; immaturity etc. 674.    fault, defect, weak point; screw loose; flaw etc. (break) 70; gap etc. 198; twist etc. 243; taint, attainder; bar sinister, hole in one's coat; blemish etc. 848; weakness etc. 160; half blood; shortcoming etc. 304; drawback; seamy side.    mediocrity; no great shakes, no great catch; not much to boast of; one-horse shay.    ... show more

Dutch: mankement, gebrek, fout, defect
Polish: brak, niedostatek, niedociągnięcie, uchybienie

The quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection:
— He knew his own faults much better than she did.

synonym: demerit.

Dutch: feil, fout, ondeugd, tekort, tekortkoming, zwak, zwakheid, zwakte

geology A crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other:
— They built it right over a geological fault.
— He studied the faulting of the earth's crust.

synonyms: break, faulting, fracture, geological fault, shift.

Roget 70: discontinuity; disjunction etc. 44; anacoluthon^†; interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut; gap etc. (interval) 198; solution of continuity, caesura; broken thread; parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork; intermission; alternation etc. (periodicity) 138; dropping fire.    ... show more

Dutch: breuk, breuklijn
Polish: uskok

electronics Equipment failure attributable to some defect in a circuit (loose connection or insulation failure or short circuit etc.).

Responsibility for a bad situation or event.

sports A serve that is illegal (e.g., that lands outside the prescribed area).

Put or pin the blame on.

synonym: blame.

Dutch: aanwrijven