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.
Normally, when a defective and deadly auto part is discovered, a vehicle recall can be conducted to address the problem.
The remaining defendants, Instagram‘s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube still face claims that their products are “defective” and designed to keep children hooked to products its makers know are harmful.
From Los Angeles Times
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used against the tobacco industry in the 1990s and 2000s that faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a defective product.
From Barron's
I was devastated, ashamed even, to learn that my brain—the thing responsible for my intellect, which I pride myself on—was defective.
Instead, we were left at the mercy of a hospital with a defective ventilation system and a defective water system.
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.
