defect
A fault or malfunction.
Noun
- A fault or malfunction.
- a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment
- Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. - 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord...
- But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and...
- The quantity or amount by which anything falls short.
- and the indefatigable application with which they have supplied the defects of early culture. - 1824, Lydia Sigourney, Sketch of Connecticut:
- A part by which a figure or quantity is wanting or deficient.
Origin
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin de- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin facio Latin dēficiō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin dēfectusbor. English defect Borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”).
Forms
Synonyms
defect fault flaw imperfection shortcoming drawback deficiency inadequacy peccadillo sin
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
blemish crack dent taint bug glitch scratch stain weak spot wem
Related
defective defeat deficiency deficient deficit error flawless
Derived
angular defect birth defect bulk defect CHILD syndrome congenital heart defect crystallographic defect defectible defectious defectless defect of one's qualities defectology Frenkel defect line defect mass defect microdefect organic defect planar defect point defect re-defect renal dysplasia-limb defects syndrome Schottky defect stereodefect title defect volume defect
Verb
- To abandon or turn against; to cease or change one's loyalty, especially from a military organisation or political party.
- Capitalizing on the restive mood, Mr. Farage, the U.K. Independence Party leader, took out an advertisement in The Daily Telegraph this week inviting unhappy Tories to defect. In it Mr. Farage sniped that the Cameron...
- To desert one's army, to flee from combat.
- To join the enemy army.
- To flee one's country and seek asylum.
- Passing through Thailand, she submitted a handwritten statement agreeing to defect, a requirement for North Korean refugees to be allowed to enter the South. - 2015 August 15, Choe Sang-Hun, “A North Korean Defector’s...