flawed
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flawed
Explanation
Things that are flawed are less than perfect. A flawed dinner plate might have a small chip in it, and a flawed English paper includes at least one mistake. Flawed objects have some kind of imperfection — a dent or a blemish. No one's perfect, so everyone is flawed in some way, but when this word describes a person it often means "weak in character."A Shakespearian flawed hero has some flaw or foible that will ultimately be his undoing: in other words, a "fatal flaw." Flawed comes from flaw, originally "a flake of snow," later "a splinter," and finally "an imperfection."
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.
Lawyers for a former Olympian charged with damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool say that the Justice Department knew or should have known for weeks that its case was flawed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
A bold idea, some flawed early studies, a fierce backlash – and then, years later, a quieter, more careful return to the question.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026
Kubiak says that this had been down to flawed designs, and that manufacturers had since addressed concerns.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Fasulo says he frequently hears from followers who replaced the wrong parts on their cars after taking flawed advice from a chatbot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
The task, in other words, is to understand how reliable knowledge and scientific progress can and do result from a flawed, profoundly contingent, culturally relative, all-too-human process.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
