How to Use default in a Sentence

default

1 of 2 noun
  • The defendant has made no appearance in the case and is in default.
  • You can enter your own settings or use the defaults.
  • Which font is the default in that computer program?
  • In fact, passkeys are opt-in and turned off by default.
    Marco Marcelline, PCMAG, 6 June 2023
  • But most of my tests were with the default 12-megapixel mode.
    Medea Giordano, WIRED, 19 July 2023
  • The look harkened back to a time when midnight blue, not black, was the default for men’s evening wear.
    Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 29 Sep. 2023
  • With the settlement, that rate will no longer be the default.
    Rachel Siegel, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
  • Hide your friends list This may be one of the app’s sneakiest defaults.
    Heather Kelly, Washington Post, 31 Jan. 2024
  • The specter of a debt default is no longer unthinkable.
    Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2023
  • That means the nation is one step closer to dodging a default.
    Rachel Looker, USA TODAY, 2 June 2023
  • One result is very low default rates – less than 5% in Nigeria.
    Christine Ro, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
  • The video ads will be muted by default on all devices except in-car tablets and will run for up to 90 seconds.
    Jess Weatherbed, The Verge, 16 June 2023
  • By default, Drummond said, anyone who typed in that search bar and hit enter would do a search on MSN.
    David Pierce, The Verge, 30 Oct. 2023
  • It is rooted in the principle of protecting life and health as a default.
    Felipe De La Hoz, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2023
  • By default, this is encrypted when sent to Zoom, but Zoom can decrypt it.
    Barath Raghavan, IEEE Spectrum, 5 Nov. 2023
  • His expression is somber by default, but his laugh reveals the little boy who lives on in my mind.
    Emefa Addo Agawu, New York Times, 23 Mar. 2024
  • The problem, until now, has been that these Reactions are on by default.
    David Phelan, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
  • With interest rates rising more than 5 percentage points in the past two years, that’s a recipe for defaults.
    Will Daniel, Fortune, 22 Jan. 2024
  • By default, swim teams, water polo teams and swim lessons also ceased.
    Emma Fox, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2023
  • While white and off-white have long felt like the default menu colors, some restaurants are setting themselves apart by adding pops of neon and bright patterns.
    Priya Krishna, New York Times, 23 Jan. 2024
  • But those who were in default need to take certain steps to do so — and complete them before next September to keep their loans out of default for the long term, The Times said.
    Robert Higgs, cleveland, 1 Sep. 2023
  • Pichai testified about the development of Google’s Chrome, the world’s leading web browser, which has Google search set as the default.
    Eva Dou, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2023
  • In terms of what’s changed, there are now more Republicans who think a default would be either no big deal or even preferable to the status quo.
    Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 6 Oct. 2023
  • Starting in January 2024, the payments went into default, which allowed the city, as the lender, to demand that the financing be paid in full.
    George Avalos, The Mercury News, 26 Feb. 2024
  • The companies have had a partnership since 2002 that makes Google the default search engine in Apple’s Safari.
    Leah Nylen, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2023
  • And Jews, history’s default scapegoat, are the reason for this sorry state of affairs.
    Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 13 Nov. 2023
  • For example, autoplay is turned off as a default in YouTube Kids.
    Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, 29 Mar. 2024
  • Country Garden, China’s biggest homebuilder as of just a few months ago, continues to teeter on the brink of default.
    Michelle Toh, CNN, 19 Sep. 2023
  • China’s quandary: Bail out debt-laden cities, or risk disruptive defaults?
    Meaghan Tobin, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2023
  • The settlement would do away with a 6 percent sales commission as a default, a longtime fixture of home sales.
    Rachel Lerman, Washington Post, 16 Mar. 2024
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default

2 of 2 verb
  • If the borrower defaults, the bank can take the house.
  • The program defaults to a standard font.
  • Fitch expects a large chunk of the $61 billion of top-concern loans to default by the end of the year.
    Eric Wallerstein, WSJ, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Biden and McCarthy agree that the nation cannot default on its debt.
    Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 7 Feb. 2023
  • Some landlords will default — leaving the banks holding the bag.
    Matt Egan, CNN, 9 Feb. 2024
  • The ruble plunged against the dollar and Russia defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time since 1918.
    David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2024
  • In 2021 Evergrande was among the first, and the most prominent, to default on a tower of unpaid bills.
    Alexandra Stevenson, New York Times, 28 Sep. 2023
  • Teenage girls always default to chicken strips and French fries.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Without action by Congress, the nation could default on its debt as soon as six weeks from now.
    John Wagner, Anchorage Daily News, 1 May 2023
  • Unlike some vehicles that default back to front-wheel drive every time the engine starts, a button can set the 2025 Equinox to start in AWD.
    Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, 23 Jan. 2024
  • If Democrats and Republicans cannot agree to raise the debt limit, the government will default.
    Mabinty Quarshie, Washington Examiner, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Even with the biggest loans of all the Utah schools, only 1.5% of Westminster students defaulted.
    Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Aug. 2023
  • The government would default on its debt if Treasury stopped paying all bills.
    Jim Tankersley, New York Times, 2 May 2023
  • The clash of the political parties brought the country within hours of defaulting on its debt a little more than a month ago.
    USA TODAY, 1 July 2023
  • The program would also apply to borrowers at high risk of defaulting on their loans in two years.
    Sara Dorn, Forbes, 15 Feb. 2024
  • Adding to the uncertainty: The federal government is on the brink of defaulting on its debt.
    Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2023
  • Chavez cautions parents not to default to lecture mode.
    Melissa Willets, Parents, 10 Jan. 2024
  • Many borrowers are unable to make their monthly payments, and some may even default on their loans.
    Juan Carlos Medina, Forbes, 17 July 2023
  • The company defaulted on its dollar debt in late 2021, and has since embarked on a long process to restructure its debt.
    Lionel Lim, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2023
  • Over the summer, squabbling between the two parties nearly led to the US defaulting on its debt for the first time since the nation was founded almost 250 years ago.
    Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN, 3 Oct. 2023
  • In 2014, the government says, the Adell Estate defaulted on its deferred estate tax.
    Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, 25 Apr. 2023
  • The Senate passed a bipartisan bill to suspend the debt ceiling Thursday night in a vote that all but ensures the nation will not default on its debt.
    Lawrence Andrea, Journal Sentinel, 1 June 2023
  • But that means office property owners could be more likely to default on their debt.
    Byalena Botros, Fortune, 26 June 2023
  • The government already hit the debt ceiling in January, and Yellen has previously warned the U.S. could default on its debt by the summer if the cap isn’t raised.
    Prem Thakker, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2023
  • His comments came as both Democrats and Republicans work to try and pass a fiscal package to raise the debt ceiling and avoid defaulting on the nation's debts.
    Justin Klawans, The Week, 16 Feb. 2023
  • This helps reduce the risk of borrowers defaulting on their loans, leading to a housing market crash.
    Kristine Gill, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Dec. 2023
  • But these efforts haven’t stopped it from defaulting to cartoonish tropes.
    Szu Yu Chen, Washington Post, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Treasuries are perceived globally as one of the world’s most risk-free, if not the most risk-free, assets — and the United States nearly defaulting on debt has done little to change that.
    Krystal Hur, CNN, 11 June 2023
  • As a result, users will default to workarounds like spreadsheets, email and rubber stamp approvals out of frustration.
    John Milburn, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024
  • This race will ultimately depend on whether voters watch all five nominees or just default to the biggest name.
    Kyle Buchanan, New York Times, 7 Mar. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'default.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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