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.
"I am a flawed human being who makes mistakes and am filled with shame over this incident. I am truly very sorry," she said at the time.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
I listen to music because it’s flawed, raw and human, not just noise to fill my day.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
I’m not going to blindly follow the adviser; after all, his judgment could be flawed and he has biases just like I have mine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
He’s the flawed Shakespearean villain of the piece in whose future lies, what?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Vishniac believed that the experimental techniques previously used to deduce no indigenous microbes in Antarctica were flawed.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
