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Fault vs Breakdown - What's the difference?

fault | breakdown |

As nouns the difference between fault and breakdown

is that fault is a defect; something that detracts from perfection while breakdown is a failure, particularly mechanical; something that has failed.

As a verb fault

is to criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.

fault

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A defect; something that detracts from perfection.
  • * Shakespeare
  • As patches set upon a little breach / Discredit more in hiding of the fault .
  • A mistake or error.
  • No!. This is my fault, not yours
  • A weakness of character; a failing.
  • For all her faults , she's a good person at heart.
  • A minor offense.
  • Blame; the responsibility for a mistake.
  • The fault lies with you.
  • (seismology) A fracture in a rock formation causing a discontinuity.
  • (mining) In coal seams, coal rendered worthless by impurities in the seam.
  • slate fault''', dirt '''fault , etc.
    (Raymond)
  • (tennis) An illegal serve.
  • (electrical) An abnormal connection in a circuit.
  • (obsolete) want; lack
  • * Shakespeare
  • one, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend
  • (hunting) A lost scent; act of losing the scent.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled, / With much ado, the cold fault clearly out.

    Derived terms

    * at fault * double fault * to a fault

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To criticize, blame or find fault with something or someone.
  • * Traditional song
  • For that I will not fault thee / But for humbleness exalt thee.
  • (geology) To fracture.
  • To commit a mistake or error.
  • (computing) To undergo a page fault.
  • * 2002 , Æleen Frisch, Essential system administration
  • When a page is read in, a few pages surrounding the faulted page are typically loaded as well in the same I/O operation in an effort to head off future page faults.

    breakdown

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A failure, particularly mechanical; something that has failed
  • We saw a breakdown by the side of the road.
  • A physical collapse or lapse of mental stability
  • After so much stress, he suffered a breakdown and simply gave up.
  • Listing, division or categorization in great detail
  • ''Looking at the breakdown of the budget, I see a few items we could cut.
  • (chemistry) Breaking of chemical bonds within a compound to produce simpler compounds or elements.
  • A musical technique, by where the music is stripped down, becoming simpler, and can vary in heaviness depending on the genre.
  • * 1992 , En Vogue, My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) (song)
  • And now it's time for a breakdown !
  • (sports) A loss of organization (of the parts of a system).
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=September 18 , author=Ben Dirs , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties.}}
  • (US, dated) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the blacks of the southern United States.
  • (US, dated) Any crude, noisy dance performed by shuffling the feet, usually by one person at a time.
  • * (rfdate) New Eng. Tales
  • Don't clear out when the quadrilles are over, for we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with.
  • (US) Any rapid bluegrass dance tune, especially featuring a five-string banjo.
  • Foggy Mountain 'Breakdown'
  • * 1893 , (Mark Twain) "The Californian's Tale", in (1906)
  • Towards nine the three miners said that as they had brought their instruments they might as well tune up, for the boys and girls would soon be arriving now, and hungry for a good old fashioned breakdown . A fiddle, a banjo, and a clarinet - these were the instruments.
  • *
  • *
  • * {{quote-book, ???, title=Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N' Roses, page=102,
  • books.google.com/books?isbn=1592403778, author=Stephen Davis, year=2008, passage=Izzy lays down some big chords while Slash plays the song's banjo breakdown of a theme.}}
  • *
  • *
  • Synonyms

    * (musical technique) degradation

    Derived terms

    * breakdown lorry / breakdown truck * breakdown point * nervous breakdown

    See also

    * break it down