to a fault en · ADV
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
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(idiomatic, not-comparable) To an excessive degree; extremely; counterproductively.
Fitz-Roy's character was a singular one, with very many noble features: he was devoted to his duty, generous to a fault, bold, determined, and indomitably energetic.
1887, Charles Darwin, chapter 3, in The Autobiography of Charles Darwin:These mosquitoes […] are feeble, insignificant in size, diffident to a fault.
1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 34, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:Charles has been described by his biographer Catherine Mayer as “loyal to a fault. Sometimes to the point of fault,” but this was too much.
2025 October 30, Robert Booth, “Not in this together: King Charles cuts Andrew loose to save royal family’s repute”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:I am trusting to a fault.
Self-deprecating to a fault, he refuses any praise for his work.
2001 February 13, Aparisim Ghosh, “Subcontinental Drift: Shining Star”, in Time:1710, Isaac Norris, Friendly Advice to the Inhabitants of Pensilvania, Andrew Bradford (Philadelphia), p. 2, He also had that good qualification, of a moderate expectation, almost to a fault.
Madam, I'm as gentle as a jellyfish, and peaceful to a fault.
1904, Rex Ellingwood Beach, “Pardners”, in Pardners:
Coordinates
Translations (8)
hu túlontúl (to an excessive degree; extremely) · es hasta decir basta (to an excessive degree; extremely) · hu túlzottan (to an excessive degree; extremely) · es a ultranza (to an excessive degree; extremely) · hu túlságosan (to an excessive degree; extremely) · fr à l'excès (to an excessive degree; extremely) · es al extremo (to an excessive degree; extremely) · fi liiaksi asti (to an excessive degree; extremely)