DEFAULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does default mean? 

• DEFAULT (noun)
  The noun DEFAULT has 4 senses:

1. loss due to not showing up

2. act of failing to meet a financial obligation

3. loss resulting from failure of a debt to be paid

4. an option that is selected automatically unless an alternative is specified

  Familiarity information: DEFAULT used as a noun is uncommon.

• DEFAULT (verb)
  The verb DEFAULT has 1 sense:

1. fail to pay up

  Familiarity information: DEFAULT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEFAULT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Loss due to not showing up

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he lost the game by default

Hypernyms ("default" is a kind of...):

loss (the act of losing someone or something)

absence (failure to be present)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Act of failing to meet a financial obligation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

default; nonpayment; nonremittal

Hypernyms ("default" is a kind of...):

failure (an act that fails)

Derivation:

default (fail to pay up)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Loss resulting from failure of a debt to be paid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

default; nonpayment; nonremittal

Hypernyms ("default" is a kind of...):

financial loss (loss of money or decrease in financial value)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "default"):

delinquency (nonpayment of a debt when due)

Derivation:

default (fail to pay up)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An option that is selected automatically unless an alternative is specified

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

default; default option

Hypernyms ("default" is a kind of...):

alternative; choice; option (one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen)

• DEFAULT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they default    ... he / she / it defaults   
Past simple: defaulted   
Past participle: defaulted   
-ing form: defaulting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail to pay up

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

default; default on

Hypernyms (to "default" is one way to...):

fail; neglect (fail to do something; leave something undone)

"Default" entails doing...:

owe (be in debt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Antonym:

pay up (cancel or discharge a debt)

Derivation:

default (loss resulting from failure of a debt to be paid)

default (act of failing to meet a financial obligation)

defaulter (someone who fails to meet a financial obligation)

 Context examples 

The dorsal attention and default systems, important for attention or focus and internal mental thoughts or rumination, respectively, also showed significant occurrences.

(Brain Activity Is Inherited, May Inform Treatment for ADHD, Autism, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This should generally be considered the default distance measure to be used in most operations.

(Manhattan Distance Method, NCI Thesaurus)

I assented to this proposal, in default of being able to suggest anything else.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The low-level software which handles the interface to peripheral hardware, schedules tasks, allocates storage, and presents a default interface to the user when no application program is running.

(Operating System, NCI Thesaurus)

During lunch he told us that Mrs. Westenra had for some time expected sudden death from her heart, and had put her affairs in absolute order; he informed us that, with the exception of a certain entailed property of Lucy's father's which now, in default of direct issue, went back to a distant branch of the family, the whole estate, real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Mr. Bennet's property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a year, which, unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed, in default of heirs male, on a distant relation; and their mother's fortune, though ample for her situation in life, could but ill supply the deficiency of his.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The team found that activity in the default mode network of the brain (a collection of areas which are active when we are resting) was different depending on the sounds playing in the background.

(Sound of Nature Helps Us Relax, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Mr. Micawber then embraced Mrs. Micawber, and pressed my hand; leaving me to infer from this broken allusion that his domestic supply of water had been cut off that afternoon, in consequence of default in the payment of the company's rates.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)