de
fault
Third Person
defaults
Present Participle
defaulting
Past Tense
defaulted
Past Participle
defaulted
1
to fail at accomplishing an obligation, particularly a financial one
- If you miss your mortgage payments, you may default on your home loan.
- Failing to repay the loan on time could cause the borrower to default.
- The company faced severe consequences after defaulting on its debt payments.
- Students who don't meet their tuition deadlines may default on their financial obligations to the university.
- The consequences of defaulting on a car loan include repossession of the vehicle.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
2
(of a computer program) to always do the same thing unless instructed differently
- If you don’t choose a printer, the system will default to the one nearest to your location.
- The app defaults to displaying the homepage every time it opens.
- The settings default to English, but you can change the language preference.
- When you don’t select an option, the system defaults to the recommended settings.
- If no action is taken, the device defaults to standby mode after 10 minutes.