IMPERFECTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does imperfection mean? 

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

1. the state or an instance of being imperfect

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPERFECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state or an instance of being imperfect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

imperfection; imperfectness

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

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

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

failing; weakness (a flaw or weak point)

flaw (an imperfection in a plan or theory or legal document that causes it to fail or that reduces its effectiveness)

defect (an imperfection in a bodily system)

defect; fault; flaw (an imperfection in an object or machine)

wart (an imperfection in someone or something that is suggestive of a wart (especially in smallness or unattractiveness))

defectiveness; faultiness (the state of being defective)

Antonym:

perfection (the state of being without a flaw or defect)

 Context examples 

Having felt in him the presence of these qualities, I felt his imperfection and took courage.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Imperfections or malformations of the heart, existing at birth.

(Heart Malformation, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Failure or imperfection of vision at night or in dim light, with good vision only on bright days.

(Night Blindness, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The power of doing anything with quickness is always prized much by the possessor, and often without any attention to the imperfection of the performance.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

This, to Anne, was a decided imperfection.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

When you tell me to love him as a brother, I shall no more see imperfection in his face, than I now do in his heart.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The day at Sotherton, with all its imperfections, afforded the Miss Bertrams much more agreeable feelings than were derived from the letters from Antigua, which soon afterwards reached Mansfield.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Do not think or speak of disparity between us, for there is none, except in all my many imperfections.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I don't know whether the study of Shakespeare helped her to read character, or the natural instinct of a woman for what was honest, brave, and strong, but while endowing her imaginary heroes with every perfection under the sun, Jo was discovering a live hero, who interested her in spite of many human imperfections.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There was always sufficient reason for such an attention; Mrs. and Miss Bates loved to be called on, and she knew she was considered by the very few who presumed ever to see imperfection in her, as rather negligent in that respect, and as not contributing what she ought to the stock of their scanty comforts.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)