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View synonyms for defective

defective

[ dih-fek-tiv ]

adjective

  1. Sometimes defected. having a defect or flaw; faulty; imperfect:

    a defective machine.

    Synonyms: deficient, incomplete

    Antonyms: complete, perfect

  2. Psychology. characterized by subnormal intelligence or behavior.
  3. Grammar. (of an inflected word or its inflection) lacking one or more of the inflected forms proper to most words of the same class in the language, as English must, which occurs only in the present tense.


noun

  1. a defective person or thing.

defective

/ dɪˈfɛktɪv /

adjective

  1. having a defect or flaw; imperfect; faulty
  2. (of a person) below the usual standard or level, esp in intelligence
  3. grammar (of a word) lacking the full range of inflections characteristic of its form class, as for example must, which has no past tense


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Derived Forms

  • deˈfectiveness, noun
  • deˈfectively, adverb

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Other Words From

  • de·fec·tive·ly adverb
  • de·fec·tive·ness noun
  • non·de·fec·tive adjective
  • non·de·fec·tive·ly adverb
  • non·de·fec·tive·ness noun
  • pre·de·fec·tive adjective
  • un·de·fec·tive adjective
  • un·de·fec·tive·ly adverb
  • un·de·fec·tive·ness noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of defective1

First recorded in 1375–1425; from Late Latin dēfectīvus, equivalent to dēfectus ( defect ) + -īvus -ive; replacing Middle English defectif, from Middle French, from Late Latin, as above

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Example Sentences

However, just because a vaccine is replication-defective does not mean that you won't have an adverse event.

Flaubert, for instance, hated the works of Dickens: “What defective composition!”

Anyone who takes pot shots at a lovely wading bird is a hopeless defective, in my view, an evolutionary mistake.

Any infant deemed defective by the council was tossed off a cliff.

Seven years ago, a Chevy Cobalt with a defective ignition switch killed two teenage girls.

All things are double, one against another, and he hath made nothing defective.

If this is not done, some person who afterward wished to purchase the land might object because the recorded title was defective.

Such a license though defective is valid until revoked by the proper authority.

If he is injured while running a car from a defective brake of which he had knowledge, he cannot recover.

Thus if a meeting of proprietors must be called by twelve of them, a call signed by eleven is defective.

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