Literary notes about default (AI summary)
The term "default" in literature is multifaceted, serving both as a descriptor for an established, often automatic state and as a marker for a shortfall or failure. In some works, it designates the preset condition in technology or process, as when a system automatically assigns a setting when no alternative is chosen [1, 2, 3, 4]. In other contexts, however, it denotes a lapse, omission, or failure to meet a standard—sometimes even implying moral or legal blame, as seen when characters face the consequences of their omissions or misdeeds [5, 6, 7]. Authors also use phrases like "in default of" to indicate the absence of something better, be it a lack of alternatives, imagination, or resources, thereby highlighting deficiencies and the subsequent reliance on the only available option [8, 9, 10]. This dual usage enriches the narrative, allowing "default" to oscillate between a technical fallback and a critical commentary on failure or negligence.
- The Debian default shell offers several features to make entering command lines easy.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - You can select your default window manager by editing /etc/X11/window-managers .
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - By default, a Linux native partition was created.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - If a selection is not made by the user, then a selection is automatically assigned, by default.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno - It is your own default, said the lady, for ye have done a passing foul deed in the slaying of the lady, the which will be great villainy unto you.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - Then, in the trial of the "brigands," he was condemned to death by default.
— from Repertory of The Comedie Humaine, Complete, A — Z by Cerfberr and Christophe - The accident was clearly occasioned by the default of the defendant.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes - It is said that, in default of Kummidichattis, ordinary Vellālas now have to carry their own fire at funerals.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - It should be apparent to all the world who did every thing, and through whose default any thing was left undone.
— from Considerations on Representative Government by John Stuart Mill - de Saxonia adds; faith, opinion, discourse, ratiocination, are all accidentally depraved by the default of imagination.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
