IMPERFECT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does imperfect mean? 

• IMPERFECT (noun)
  The noun IMPERFECT has 1 sense:

1. a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going

  Familiarity information: IMPERFECT used as a noun is very rare.

• IMPERFECT (adjective)
  The adjective IMPERFECT has 2 senses:

1. not perfect; defective or inadequate

2. wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings

  Familiarity information: IMPERFECT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPERFECT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

continuous tense; imperfect; imperfect tense; progressive; progressive tense

Hypernyms ("imperfect" is a kind of...):

tense (a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imperfect"):

present progressive; present progressive tense (a tense used to express action that is on-going at the time of utterance)

past progressive; past progressive tense (a progressive tense used to describe on-going action in the past)

future progressive; future progressive tense (a progressive tense used to express action that will be on-going in the future)

• IMPERFECT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not perfect; defective or inadequate

Context example:

drainage here is imperfect

Similar:

blemished; flawed (having a blemish or flaw)

broken (imperfectly spoken or written)

corrupt; corrupted (containing errors or alterations)

defective; faulty (having a defect)

imperfectible (capable of being made imperfect)

irregular (failing to meet a standard of manufacture due to an imperfection)

Also:

blemished (marred by imperfections)

broken (physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split)

Attribute:

flawlessness; ne plus ultra; perfection (the state of being without a flaw or defect)

Antonym:

perfect (being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish)

Derivation:

imperfectness (the state or an instance of being imperfect)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings

Synonyms:

fallible; frail; imperfect; weak

Context example:

frail humanity

Similar:

human (having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings)

Derivation:

imperfectness (the state or an instance of being imperfect)

 Context examples 

In my eyes it bore a livelier image of the spirit, it seemed more express and single, than the imperfect and divided countenance I had been hitherto accustomed to call mine.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As we travel on the rough road, for a road of an ancient and imperfect kind there was, I held down my head and slept.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And this was the first time I began to conceive some imperfect idea of courts and ministers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

His visit afforded her but a very partial satisfaction, while his own enjoyment in it appeared so imperfect.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Issue associated with an error due to imperfect timing of two operations; this may or may not include signal transmission time.

(Inaccurate Synchronization Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

Encoded by human APPBP2 Gene, ubiquitous 70 kD cytoplasmic Amyloid Beta Precursor Protein-Binding Protein 2 contains terminal globular structures, a coiled coil domain, PKC phosphorylation sites, and four imperfect C-terminal tandem repeats.

(Amyloid Beta Precursor Protein-Binding Protein 2, NCI Thesaurus)

It may also present with blue sclerae, loose joints, and imperfect dentin formation.

(Osteogenesis Imperfecta, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

An unhappy culprit, found guilty of imperfect exercise, approaches at his command.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Many of my readers may retain some recollection of what was called at the time “The Cornish Horror,” though a most imperfect account of the matter reached the London press.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)