Faulting

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of identifying or attributing weaknesses or errors in something, such as a system, process, or person
2. A geological process relating to the fracturing or displacement of rock layers in the earth's crust
3. The responsibility for a failure or mistake in a particular situation, often indicating a lapse in judgment or performance

Etymology: The verb "faulting" is simply the present participle and gerund of "fault", so its story is really the story of the noun. The surprise is that "fault" began as a word for a lack. It came into Middle English as "faute" from Anglo-Norman and Old French, where it meant a shortfall or deficiency, and it reaches back to a Vulgar Latin form, "fallita", a feminine of "fallitus", used in place of the classical "falsus". That Latin participle comes from "fallere", "to deceive", so "fault" is distantly tied to the idea of something failing or falling short, the same root behind "fail" and "false". English already had words for this idea. Old English "scyld" meant fault, and Middle English borrowed "lac" from Middle Dutch and "last" from Old Norse, but "faute" gradually displaced them. Spanish "falta" and Portuguese "falta", meaning lack or absence, show the same original sense surviving in neighbouring languages.

Synonyms: blaming, accusing

Antonyms: praising, rewarding