Default: Failing to Pay, and the Setting You Never Changed
To default is to fail to meet an obligation, especially a debt. In computing a default is the setting that applies when you make no choice, and defaults are surprisingly powerful.
Default means a failure to act. The computing sense follows directly: a default setting is what happens when the user fails to choose. Designers know that most people never change them, which makes defaults one of the quietest forms of influence there is.
- Failure to repay a debt. *The company defaulted on its bonds.*
- Failure to appear or act. *Judgment was entered in default.*
- A preset option. *Change the default language.*
- By absence of alternatives. *He became leader by default.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | default | A default setting. |
| Verb | default | They defaulted in March. |
| Phrase | by default | Won by default. |
| Compound | default rate | A rising default rate. |
| Related | fault | Through no fault of his own. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The borrower defaulted on three payments.Default on a debt.
- The default is set to English.Computing — the preselected option.
- She won by default when the other candidate withdrew.Because nobody else was left.
Why defaults matter
- Most people never change a default setting
- Organ donation rates differ sharply between opt-in and opt-out countries
- Pension enrolment rises dramatically when joining is the default
- Privacy settings shape behaviour more than privacy policies do
- Choosing the default is therefore a design decision with real consequences
From Old French *defaute*, a lack or failing, from Latin *fallere*, to fail or deceive. The computing sense dates only from the 1960s, and is now probably the commonest use of the word.
Default on or default in?
Default on a payment or a loan. Default in appears in legal phrasing such as judgment in default.
What does by default mean?
Because nothing else happened, rather than because of a positive decision.