A value or setting that a device or program automatically selects if you do not specify a substitute. For example, word processors have default margins and default pagelengths that you can override or reset.
The default drive is the disk drive the computer accesses unless you specify a different disk drive. Likewise, the default directory is the directory the operating systemsearches unless you specify a different directory.
The default can also be an action that a device or program will take. For example, some word processors generate backup files by default.
