noun
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the condition or quality of being imperfect
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a fault or defect
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imperfection
1350–1400; Middle English imperfeccio ( u ) n < Late Latin imperfectiōn- (stem of imperfectiō ) incompleteness. See im- 2, perfection
Explanation
An imperfection is a detail that makes something (or someone) less than perfect. A tiny crack in your otherwise flawless Ming vase might be its only imperfection. In addition to a blemish or defect, imperfection can also mean "the general state of not being perfect." For example, you could say, "Yeah, my dog is funny-looking, but her imperfection is part of what I love about her." The Latin imperfectus is at the root of imperfection, meaning "unfinished, incomplete, or immature," a combination of im-, "not," and perfectus, "finished or complete."
Vocabulary lists containing imperfection
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for May 20–May 26, 2023
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"The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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"To Helen Keller" and "Marked/Dusting"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I find that if I don’t have gloves, the idea of having to wash my hands after getting them all yucky stops me from doing it,” says Johnson, owner of Organizing Imperfection.
From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2021
When the dish comes out edible, even tasty, it gives the lie to perfectionist thinking: Imperfection will not kill you or ruin your career—or your dinner.
From Salon • Apr. 30, 2021
Imperfection is a quality seldom afforded those who carry the added mantle of representation.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 29, 2019
Imperfection was inevitable, she suggested, as surely as progress was achievable.
From New York Times • Nov. 4, 2016
Imperfection is his ideal, because it's real and tangible, and he knows how to translate it into a frozen moment in time that will be beautiful forever.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
