defect

 

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defect

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From Middle French defaicte, from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“priv.”) + facere (“to do”).

• (noun) enPR: dē'fĕkt, IPA^(key): /ˈdiːfɛkt/

  • Audio (US):

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• (verb) enPR: dĭfĕkt', IPA^(key): /dɪˈfɛkt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkt

defect (plural defects)

1. A fault or malfunction.

   a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment

   • 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:

     Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects.

   • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎^[1]:

     But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.

   • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎^[2], page 4:

     Another major defect of the current literature dealing with the nomenclature of hybrid forms of English is the scant attention paid to the question of frequency.

2. The quantity or amount by which anything falls short.
   • 1824, Lydia Sigourney, Sketch of Connecticut:

     and the indefatigable application with which they have supplied the defects of early culture.

3. (mathematics) A part by which a figure or quantity is wanting or deficient.

• See also Thesaurus:defect

• defective
• defeat
• deficiency
• deficient
• deficit