noun
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the condition or quality of being imperfect
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a fault or defect
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imperfection
1350–1400; Middle English imperfeccio ( u ) n < Late Latin imperfectiōn- (stem of imperfectiō ) incompleteness. See im- 2, perfection
Explanation
An imperfection is a detail that makes something (or someone) less than perfect. A tiny crack in your otherwise flawless Ming vase might be its only imperfection. In addition to a blemish or defect, imperfection can also mean "the general state of not being perfect." For example, you could say, "Yeah, my dog is funny-looking, but her imperfection is part of what I love about her." The Latin imperfectus is at the root of imperfection, meaning "unfinished, incomplete, or immature," a combination of im-, "not," and perfectus, "finished or complete."
Vocabulary lists containing imperfection
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for May 20–May 26, 2023
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"The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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"To Helen Keller" and "Marked/Dusting"
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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.
Imperfection sometimes ages better, or at least more endearingly, than perfection.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2022
When the dish comes out edible, even tasty, it gives the lie to perfectionist thinking: Imperfection will not kill you or ruin your career—or your dinner.
From Salon • Apr. 30, 2021
Imperfection was inevitable, she suggested, as surely as progress was achievable.
From New York Times • Nov. 4, 2016
Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work and author of The Gifts of Imperfection .
From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2012
Imperfection is his ideal, because it's real and tangible, and he knows how to translate it into a frozen moment in time that will be beautiful forever.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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.
