imperfect

[im-pur-fikt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR imperfect ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

of, relating to, or characterized by defects or weaknesses: imperfect vision.

not perfect; lacking completeness: imperfect knowledge.

Grammar. noting action or state still in process at some temporal point of reference, particularly in the past.

Law. being without legal effect or support; unenforceable.

Botany. (of a flower) diclinous.

Music. of or relating to the interval of a major or minor third or sixth.Compare perfect(def 13a).

noun Grammar.

the imperfect tense.

another verb formation or construction with imperfect meaning.

a form in the imperfect, as Latin portābam, “I was carrying.”

Origin of imperfect

1300–50; < Latin imperfectus unfinished (see im-², perfect); replacing Middle English imparfit < Middle French imparfait < Latin, as above

Related formsim·per·fect·ly, adverbim·per·fect·ness, noun

Synonyms for imperfect

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR imperfect ON THESAURUS.COM

1. defective, faulty. 2. incomplete, underdeveloped; immature.

Antonyms for imperfect

2. complete, developed.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for imperfect

rudimentary, inexact, sketchy, immature, incomplete, warped, limited, junk, partial, garbage, dud, low, sick, lemon, minus, amiss, broken, damaged, defective, deficient

Examples from the Web for imperfect

Contemporary Examples of imperfect

Even an imperfect messenger is capable of delivering news everyone needs to hear.
Bill Cosby Foe Hannibal Buress Joked About Date Rape
Rich Goldstein
November 20, 2014
Though the grand jury is an imperfect forum for resolving social issues, it works very well in finding truth.
There’s No Conspiracy in Ferguson’s Secret Jury
Paul Callan
November 17, 2014
There was a fear growing inside of me that my imperfect bruised college experience was a reflection of my own damaged self.
Freshman Year Sucks—and That’s OK
Eleanor Hyun
November 12, 2014
The problem was that, at least in Iowa, this model was imperfect.
Did a Flawed Computer Model Sabotage the Democrats?
Ben Jacobs
November 10, 2014
Himmler, for example, wanted to drop the imperfect British pounds on the United Kingdom by airplane.
On the Trail of Nazi Counterfeiters
Dr. Kevin C. Ruffner
September 20, 2014

Historical Examples of imperfect

Yet how imperfect a glimpse do we obtain of him, through the medium of this, or any of his letters!
A Book of Autographs
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The best of us are imperfect judges of the happiness of others.
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Well, well, they shall be as imperfect as you like—any thing to please you.
Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
In proportion as the union is incomplete, the derived life is imperfect.
A Dish Of Orts
George MacDonald
The teaching may have been, as no doubt it was, of a very rude and imperfect sort; but it was done with a will.
Self-Help
Samuel Smiles

British Dictionary definitions for imperfect

imperfect

adjective

exhibiting or characterized by faults, mistakes, etc; defective

not complete or finished; deficient

botany

(of flowers) lacking functional stamens or pistils
(of fungi) not undergoing sexual reproduction

grammar denoting a tense of verbs used most commonly in describing continuous or repeated past actions or events, as for example was walking as opposed to walked

law (of a trust, an obligation, etc) lacking some necessary formality to make effective or binding; incomplete; legally unenforceableSee also executory (def. 1)

music

(of a cadence) proceeding to the dominant from the tonic, subdominant, or any chord other than the dominant
of or relating to all intervals other than the fourth, fifth, and octaveCompare perfect (def. 9)

noun

grammar

the imperfect tense
a verb in this tense

Derived Formsimperfectly, adverbimperfectness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for imperfect

adj.

mid-14c., imperfite, from Old French imparfait, from Latin imperfectus "unfinished, incomplete," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + perfectus (see perfect). Replaced mid-16c. by the Latin form. Related: Imperfectly.