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default
[ dih-fawlt, dee-fawlt ]
noun
- failure to act; inaction or neglect:
They lost their best client by sheer default.
- Finance. failure to meet financial obligations, as when a borrower misses or stops making monthly loan payments:
A default on your mortgage can lead to losing the house.
- Law. failure to perform an act or obligation legally required, especially to appear in court or to plead at a time assigned:
The judge dismissed the suit for default of the defendant.
- Sports. failure to arrive in time for, participate in, or complete a scheduled game, race, etc.:
So far the Cougars have had three losses, two wins, and one default.
- a person’s automatic or standard way of acting or responding; go-to or reflex:
Her default is to argue about everything I say, unless she’s in a really good mood.
For default of anything better, he took a job washing dishes.
- Computers. a value that a program or operating system assumes, or a course of action that a program or operating system will take, when the user or programmer specifies no overriding value or action.
adjective
- being a person’s automatic or standard action, response, etc.; go-to:
Chocolate is my default choice for ice cream, but when I feel adventurous I’ll go for something more exotic.
- Computers. (of a value, action, etc.) preset or preselected, unless the user or programmer gives other input or instruction:
The default contrast setting on this display is 50 percent.
verb (used without object)
- to fail to meet financial obligations, such as payments on a loan, or to account properly for money in one's care:
After he defaulted twice, the bank foreclosed on the car.
- to fail in fulfilling or satisfying an engagement, claim, or obligation:
They said they would pick me up, but defaulted at the last minute.
- Law. to fail to appear in court:
One of the key witnesses defaulted.
- Sports.
- to fail to participate in or complete a scheduled game, race, etc.:
I only placed in that race because my chief rival defaulted.
- to lose a scheduled game, race, etc., by default.
- to behave or respond in a certain way automatically, habitually, or by preference (usually followed by to ):
It seems that in your relationships you default to being a caregiver instead of a partner.
- Computers. (of a program or operating system) to assume a preset value or take a preselected action unless otherwise instructed by the user or programmer (usually followed by to ):
Your profile defaults to public unless you set the permissions to private.
verb (used with object)
- to fail to perform or pay:
to default a debt.
- to declare to be in default, especially legally:
The judge defaulted the defendant.
- Law. to lose by failure to appear in court.
- Sports.
- to fail to compete in (a scheduled game, race, etc.).
- to lose by default.
default
/ dɪˈfɔːlt /
noun
- a failure to act, esp a failure to meet a financial obligation or to appear in a court of law at a time specified
- absence or lack
- by defaultin the absence of opposition or a better alternative
he became prime minister by default
- in default ofthrough or in the lack or absence of
- judgment by defaultlaw a judgment in the plaintiff's favour when the defendant fails to plead or to appear
- lack, want, or need
- alsoˈdiːfɔːlt computing
- the preset selection of an option offered by a system, which will always be followed except when explicitly altered
- ( as modifier )
default setting
verb
- intr; often foll by on or in to fail to make payment when due
- intr to fail to fulfil or perform an obligation, engagement, etc
to default in a sporting contest
- law to lose (a case) by failure to appear in court
- tr to declare that (someone) is in default
Other Words From
- non·de·fault·ing adjective noun
- pre·de·fault noun verb
- un·de·fault·ed adjective
- un·de·fault·ing adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of default1
Idioms and Phrases
- in default of, for lack or want of; in the absence of:
In default of male heirs, his daughters inherited his property.
More idioms and phrases containing default
see in default of .Example Sentences
Are we all so stuck in our roles that when a given issue comes up, we just default to type?
We should expect the default to be civility, not harassment.
The typical trend is for writers and actors to default to the crudest element of what makes their show work, and lean on that.
Out of the box, the device is set to a default statistical mode, but within a week, the monitor gets more accurate.
There was no threat of default, government shutdown, huge cuts in government spending, or sharp tax increases.
In default of both, I expect to go to jail, and I am ready to start upon one moment's warning.
In default of the usual bazaars OLeary had returned with the spoils of half a dozen pawn-shops.
I hitched the horse to my improvised drag and smoothed it again, several times, in default of a roller.
Before the letters arrived in London, a default had already been recorded.
He was perpetually giving an account of it to his own soul in default of other listeners.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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