default
default Lexical Profile
default Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A failure to fulfill a financial or legal obligation, especially the failure to repay a loan or appear in a court of law.
"The company faced severe legal penalties after its default on the commercial mortgage."
A preselected option or value adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user.
"If you accidentally change the display layout, you can easily restore the system defaults in the settings menu."
A failure to act, participate, or compete, resulting in a loss or an outcome decided purely by the absence of opposition.
"She won the championship match by default after her opponent withdrew due to an ankle injury."
• verb
To fail to fulfill a financial, contractual, or legal obligation, especially to fail to repay a debt or appear in court.
"Thousands of homeowners defaulted on their mortgages during the economic recession."
To revert automatically to a preselected option, setting, or course of action when no alternative is specified.
"The printer defaults to double-sided black-and-white printing unless you manually select color."
To lose a match or competition by failing to appear or compete.
"The defending champion had to default in the semifinal round because of a severe wrist sprain."
• Rhymes for default
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'defaute' (lack, deficiency, failure), derived from Vulgar Latin '*defallita', from the verb '*defallere' (to fail or be lacking), a compound of Latin 'de-' (away) and 'fallere' (to deceive, fail).
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.