noun
1 responsibility for sth wrong
ADJECTIVE
▪ stupid
▪
It's his own stupid ~ his car was stolen—he should have kept it locked.
▪ entire
▪
It was my entire ~. I ruined everything.
FAULT + VERB
▪ lie with sb
▪
The ~ lay not with her but with her manager.
PREPOSITION
▪ at ~
▪
The party at ~ in a court case usually pays the other party's legal costs.
▪ through sb's ~
▪
Many of the soldiers died through his ~.
▪ without ~
▪
Having made an error of judgement she was not without ~ in the matter.
PHRASES
▪ be all sb's ~ , be entirely sb's ~
▪
It's all your own ~, you know.
▪ be largely sb's ~ , be partly sb's ~
▪ ~ on sb's part ( law )
▪
the absence of ~ on the part of the prosecution
▪ through no ~ of your own
▪
people who, through no ~ of their own, have lost their homes
2 weakness in sb's character
ADJECTIVE
▪ big , great
▪
Her great ~ was that she thought too much of herself.
▪
My biggest ~ was my laziness.
▪ moral
▪ personal
VERB + FAULT
▪ have
▪
We all have our ~s.
▪ be blind to , overlook
▪
He is blind to his son's ~s.
▪
She was prepared to overlook his ~s.
▪ point out
▪
No one had ever pointed out my ~s to my face before.
▪ accept , acknowledge , admit , admit to , realize , see
▪
At least he admits to his ~s.
▪
I have to accept and realize my ~s.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ in
▪
Incorrectness in speech was considered a great ~ in a gentleman.
PHRASES
▪ for all sb's ~s
▪
For all her ~s ( = in spite of her faults ) she was a great woman.
▪ to a ~
▪
He is generous to a ~ ( = perhaps too generous ).
3 sth wrong or not perfect with sth
ADJECTIVE
▪ major , minor
▪ dangerous , serious
▪ common
▪
a common ~ with this type of machine
▪ glaring , obvious
▪
These are just a few of the glaring ~s that ruined the movie for me.
▪ real
▪
The only real ~ of the book is its looseness of structure.
▪ possible
▪ design , electrical , mechanical , structural , technical (all esp. BrE )
▪
Of course, minor mechanical ~s sometimes occur.
VERB + FAULT
▪ have
▪
The engine has a serious ~.
▪ develop
▪
The car soon developed another ~.
▪ look for
▪ detect , diagnose , discover , find , identify , locate
▪
They've found a major ~ with the electrical system.
▪
When she tested the recorder she could find no ~ with it.
▪ find , pick ( BrE )
▪
My mother did nothing but find ~ with my manners.
▪
He's deliberately picking ~ with the meal to get a reduction on the bill.
▪ correct , fix , rectify ( esp. BrE ), repair
▪
We're trying to correct the ~s in the program.
▪ report ( esp. BrE )
▪
You should report any ~ directly to the phone company.
FAULT + VERB
▪ occur
▪ lie in sth
▪
The ~ lay in the structure of the economy.
PREPOSITION
▪ ~ in
▪
Diabetes is caused by a ~ in the insulin production of the body.
▪ ~ with
▪
She was always finding ~ with his manners.
PHRASES
▪ for all its ~s
▪
For all its ~s (= in spite of the faults) , we love this city.
4 in tennis
ADJECTIVE
▪ double
▪ foot
VERB + FAULT
▪ serve
▪
Even tennis champions sometimes serve double ~s.
5 geology
ADJECTIVE
▪ earthquake , geological
FAULT + NOUN
▪ line
▪ scarp
▪ system , zone