imperfect
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imperfect
- /ɪmˈpɜː(ɹ)fɪkt/
- /ɪmˈpɜː(ɹ)fɛkt/
- /ɪmpə(ɹ)ˈfɛkt/
Where it comes from
From Middle English imperfit, from Old French imparfit (modern French imparfait), from Latin imperfectus. Spelling modified 15c. to conform Latin etymology. See im- + perfect.
adjective more imperfect · most imperfect
-
Not perfect.
Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect.
Similar: defective, fallible, faultful, faulty · Opposite: faultless, infallible, perfect
-
Unisexual: having either male (with stamens) or female (with pistil) flowers, but not with both.
Opposite: perfect
- Known or expected to be polyphyletic, as of a form taxon.
- Representing a continuing or repeated action.
- Lacking some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity. When the prophet Joel was describing the formidable accidents in the day of the Lord's judgment, and the fearful sentence of an angry Judge, he was not able to express it, but stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person.
noun imperfects
- Something having a minor flaw.
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A tense of verbs used in describing a past action that is incomplete or continuous.
Similar: past imperfect tense, past imperfect, preterimperfect
verb imperfects · imperfecting · imperfected
- to make imperfect 1651, John Donne, Letter to Henry Goodere, in Letters to Severall Persons of Honour, edited by Charles Edmund Merrill, Jr., New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1910, I write to you from the Spring Garden, whither I withdrew my self to think of this; and the intensenesse of my thinking ends in this, that by
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: defective, faulty, fallible, flawed, weak, corrupted, frail, broken, corrupt, blemished, progressive tense, imperfect tense, continuous tense, progressive, human, incomplete
Translations
Every language
adj (grammar) belonging to a tense of verbs used in describing a past action that is incomplete or continuous
| Français | imparfait |
|---|---|
| Italiano | imperfetto |
| עברית | לֹא נִשְׁלָם lo nishlám |
adj not perfect
| Español | imperfecto |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 不完全な fukanzen na |
| Português | imperfeito |
| Français | imparfait |
| Deutsch | unvollkommen, mangelhaft, unvollständig, fehlerhaft |
| Italiano | imperfetto |
| Ελληνικά | ατελής atelís, ελλιπής ellipís, πλημμελής plimmelís, ελαττωματικός elattomatikós |
| Română | imperfect |
| Русский | несоверше́нный nesoveršénnyj |
| עברית | לֹא מוּשְלָם lo mushlám |
noun something having a minor flaw
| Ελληνικά | υποτυπώδης ypotypódis |
|---|
noun past tense
| Español | imperfecto |
|---|---|
| Português | imperfeito |
| Français | imparfait |
| Deutsch | Imperfekt, Imperfektum |
| Italiano | imperfetto |
| Ελληνικά | παρατατικός paratatikós |
| Română | imperfect |
| Русский | имперфе́кт imperfékt, несоверше́нное вре́мя nesoveršénnoje vrémja |
| العربية | ناقص-غير كامل |
| עברית | עָבָר לֹא מֻגְמָר ‘avár lo mugmár |
Talk about this word "imperfect." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/imperfect. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. imperfect. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/imperfect "imperfect." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/imperfect.Cite this
@misc{imperfect_2026,
title = {imperfect},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/imperfect},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
