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The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms INTRO ...

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one <strong>of</strong> his faults. 2 mistake, error, blunder, lapse, failure,<br />

<strong>of</strong>fence, oversight, slip(-up), indiscretion, gaffe, gaucherie,<br />

faux pas, Slang boner, howler, go<strong>of</strong>, boo-boo, Brit boob: People<br />

should be responsible for their faults. <strong>The</strong>re are many faults in<br />

this manuscript. 3 responsibility, liability, culpability;<br />

blame, accountability, answerability: It wasn't my fault that<br />

the tree fell down. <strong>The</strong> fault lies with you, James. 4 sin,<br />

transgression, trespass, misdeed, <strong>of</strong>fence, misdemeanour, vice,<br />

indiscretion, misconduct, misbehaviour: He will confess his<br />

faults to anyone who will listen. 5 at fault. to blame,<br />

blameable, blameworthy, in the wrong, responsible, answerable,<br />

accountable, liable, culpable, guilty: You were at fault for<br />

failing to report the crime. 6 find fault. criticize, censure,<br />

take exception (to), carp (at), cavil (at), pick at, pick on,<br />

pick apart, pick holes in, niggle, fuss, Colloq nit-pick, knock:<br />

She constantly finds fault with everything I do. 7 to a fault.<br />

excessively, extremely, to an extreme, in the extreme,<br />

unreasonably, exceedingly, unduly, disproportionately,<br />

immoderately, irrationally, US overly: She is modest to a<br />

fault.<br />

--v. 8 find fault with, censure, blame, criticize, call to<br />

account, impugn, call into question, hold (someone) responsible<br />

or accountable or to blame, lay at (someone's) door, accuse:<br />

You cannot be faulted for not knowing the fuel tank was empty.<br />

fault-finding<br />

n. 1 criticism, censure, carping, cavilling, captiousness,<br />

hypercriticism, quibbling, fussiness, hair-splitting,<br />

pettifogging, Colloq nit-picking, pickiness: Why continue to<br />

put up with the foreman's fault-finding?<br />

--adj. 2 critical, censorious, carping, cavilling, captious,<br />

hypercritical, fussy, hair-splitting, pettifogging, niggling,<br />

contentious, querulous, quibbling, Colloq nit-picking, picky:<br />

She could no longer abide his fault-finding attitude.<br />

faultless adj. perfect, flawless, immaculate, ideal, exemplary, correct,<br />

accurate, foolpro<strong>of</strong>, irreproachable, unimpeachable, Colloq Brit<br />

bang on, spot on: <strong>The</strong>ir performance was faultless.<br />

faulty adj. defective, unsound, imperfect, flawed, impaired, out <strong>of</strong><br />

order, malfunctioning, broken, bad; damaged; Slang on the blink,

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