defaultverb [ I ]
uk/dɪˈfɒlt/us/dɪˈfɑːlt/to fail to do something, such as pay a debt, that you legally have to do:
People who default on their mortgage repayments may have their home repossessed.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Failing and doing badly
- at-risk
- backbencher
- balls-up
- be running on empty idiom
- beat a dead horse idiom
- collapse
- crack
- crash
- fail
- fall apart
- flunk out
- fray around/at the edges idiom
- fumble
- get off on the right/wrong foot idiom
- give up on sb/sth
- screw (sth) up
- sink like a stone idiom 1
- sink like a stone
- so much for sth idiom
- stagnate
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Borrowing & lending
Phrasal verb(s)
default to sth
defaultnoun
uk/dɪˈfɒlt//ˈdiː.fɒlt/us/dɪˈfɑːlt/default noun (RESULT)
[ U ] the thing that exists or happens if you do not change it intentionally by performing an action:
Unless something else is agreed, the default is to meet at the hotel at 7.00 p.m.
The computer will take 0 as the default value, unless you type in something different.
formal In default of (= because there is not) any better alternative, we will have to proceed with the original plan.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Standard and routine
- bog-standard
- conformance
- conformity
- day-to-day
- diet
- given
- institutionalize
- orthodox
- regular
- regularize
- round
- routine
- routinely
- set
- standard
- staple
- std
- stock
- the daily round idiom
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default noun (FAIL)
[ C or U ] a failure to do something, such as pay a debt, that you legally have to do:
Defaults on loan repayments have reached 52,000 a month.
Any default on your mortgage payments may mean you will lose your house.
Since they refuse to reply, I think we've won the argument by default (= because of their failure to act).
The national student loan default rate (= the number of people failing to pay) is estimated at one in ten.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Borrowing & lending
- be in the hole idiom
- borrow
- bounce
- call it quits idiom
- call sth in
- debenture
- fire sale
- gearing
- leverage
- leveraged buyout
- liability
- liquidate
- national debt
- overpay
- pay
- put sth up
- slate
- square the accounts/books idiom
- term
- tick
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Failures