imperfect
- 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).
- 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
Synonyms for imperfect
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for imperfect
Related Words for imperfect
rudimentary, inexact, sketchy, immature, incomplete, warped, limited, junk, partial, garbage, dud, low, sick, lemon, minus, amiss, broken, damaged, defective, deficientExamples from the Web for imperfect
Contemporary Examples of imperfect
Even an imperfect messenger is capable of delivering news everyone needs to hear.
Though the grand jury is an imperfect forum for resolving social issues, it works very well in finding truth.
There was a fear growing inside of me that my imperfect bruised college experience was a reflection of my own damaged self.
The problem was that, at least in Iowa, this model was imperfect.
Himmler, for example, wanted to drop the imperfect British pounds on the United Kingdom by airplane.
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 AutographsNathaniel Hawthorne
The best of us are imperfect judges of the happiness of others.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward 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 OrtsGeorge 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-HelpSamuel Smiles
imperfect
- 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)
- grammar
- the imperfect tense
- a verb in this tense