noun
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the condition or quality of being imperfect
-
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.
See Examples For:
It’s always the imperfection of everything you’ve ever written, that’s what keeps you writing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Instead, the star believes diversity and imperfection, particularly when it comes to food, is important - we "should celebrate the tomato or the onion that comes out of the ground not looking perfect".
From BBC ● May 9, 2026
But he seemed unwilling to transform that imperfection into a constitutional defect in which counsel, in his view, still had “every opportunity” to make the point and did not.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026
Cinema is not a video game populated by avatars; it is a medium of imagination grounded in human imperfection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
To seek the imperfection in the chain that keeps you in bondage.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
In an age of AI-generated images and machine-manufactured products, it may be those imperfections that keep some of Britain's oldest skills alive.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Or it could be worry that comes from helping the children understand a plan designed to protect them from their weaknesses requires a discussion of those imperfections.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
“Knowing you’ve only got a limited amount of time, there’s something beautiful about the imperfections of performances,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
He changed it by creating a textured surface with color variations and what might be viewed as imperfections, and by layering three flags, in diminishing sizes, atop one another, that advance—or recede.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
With all its imperfections, modern science is a technique that is sufficiently well tuned to nature so that it works—it is a practice that allows us to learn reliable things about the world.
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.
