defective
Americanadjective
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Sometimes defected having a defect or flaw; faulty; imperfect.
a defective machine.
- Synonyms:
- deficient, incomplete
-
Psychology. characterized by subnormal intelligence or behavior.
-
Grammar. (of an inflected word or its inflection) lacking one or more of the inflected forms proper to most words of the same class in the language, as English must, which occurs only in the present tense.
noun
adjective
-
having a defect or flaw; imperfect; faulty
-
(of a person) below the usual standard or level, esp in intelligence
-
grammar (of a word) lacking the full range of inflections characteristic of its form class, as for example must, which has no past tense
Other Word Forms
- defectively adverb
- defectiveness noun
- nondefective adjective
- nondefectively adverb
- nondefectiveness noun
- predefective adjective
- undefective adjective
- undefectively adverb
- undefectiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of defective
First recorded in 1375–1425; from Late Latin dēfectīvus, equivalent to dēfectus ( defect ) + -īvus -ive; replacing Middle English defectif, from Middle French, from Late Latin, as above
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.
In excerpted quotes from Schwank’s prepared testimony shared with The Times, he calls the training program “deficient, defective and broken.”
From Los Angeles Times
This tension, he said, was compounded by subsequent U.S. intelligence reports alleging that widespread corruption had rendered some of these missiles nonfunctional—including claims of defective silo lids.
Jonah worried that they’d floated out of range, or that the battery had stopped working, just like a defective cell phone.
From Literature
It said that following customer complaints and vehicle inspections "it was determined that the starter of the engine in the identified vehicles could become defective," the statement said.
From Barron's
The jury rejected additional claims made in the lawsuit, including that Uber had been negligent and that its safety systems were defective.
From BBC
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.
