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# fault

«fault» in Mova's school dictionary: **your fault, you are the one who caused a mistake or a bad…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a fault, faults); verb (fault, faults, faulted, faulting)

### meaning for a pupil

1) If something is your fault, you are the one who caused a mistake or a bad thing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#m1)

2) A fault is a weak or bad part in someone's character: «His only fault is that he is late». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#m2)

3) A fault is something wrong in a machine: «an electrical fault». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#m3)

4) In science, a fault is a crack in the Earth's crust where rocks move. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#m4)

5) In tennis, a fault is a bad serve. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life, saying «it was my fault» and saying sorry is honest; blaming others for your fault is unfair. In safety, an electrical fault can cause fires, so tell an adult if a plug sparks. In geography, earthquakes happen along faults, like the San Andreas Fault in California. Phrases: «my fault», «not your fault», «find fault with» (complain about), «at fault» (responsible).

### examples

- It's not your fault that it rained. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x1)
- Sorry, it was my fault — I broke the vase. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x2)
- The machine stopped because of a fault. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x3)
- Everyone has faults. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x4)
- Earthquakes happen along faults in the ground. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x5)
- She always finds fault with my drawings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x6)
- The driver who crashed was at fault. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x7)
- If an adult hurts you, it is never your fault. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/#x8)

### note

Countable. «Faulty» means not working properly. Note the silent-ish «l»: say «fawlt». Do not confuse «fault» with «false».

### In the corpora

- [These things are worrying, but they are almost never anyone's fault at home, and most families get through them.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/4-when-work-goes-wrong/3/)
- [A miscarriage is when a baby stops growing and dies early in pregnancy; it happens quite often and is nobody's fault.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/18-were-having-a-baby/18/)
- [When a grown-up drinks too much, it is never the child's fault and never the child's job to fix.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/27-coffee-tea-wine-and-the-pub/4/)
- [Seeing part of an 18 film by accident is common and is not the child's fault.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/58-landing-on-an-18-film-by-accident/8/)
- [Good parents make clear that an accident is not the child's fault.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/59-the-parents-walk-in-how-good-parents-react/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «fault» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fault/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.