'Imperfect' definitions:
Definition of 'imperfect'
From: WordNet
adjective
Not perfect; defective or inadequate; "had only an imperfect understanding of his responsibilities"; "imperfect mortals"; "drainage here is imperfect" [ant: perfect]
adjective
Wanting in moral strength, courage, or will; having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine beings; "I'm only a fallible human"; "frail humanity" [syn: fallible, frail, imperfect, weak]
noun
A tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going [syn: progressive, progressive tense, imperfect, imperfect tense, continuous tense]
Definition of 'Imperfect'
From: GCIDE
- Imperfect \Im*per"fect\, a. [L. imperfectus: pref. im- not + perfectus perfect: cf. F imparfait, whence OE. imparfit. See Perfect.]
- 1. Not perfect; not complete in all its parts; wanting a part; deective; deficient. [1913 Webster]
- Something he left imperfect in the state. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to successful or normal activity. [1913 Webster]
- He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed, imperfect person. --Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Not fulfilling its design; not realizing an ideal; not conformed to a standard or rule; not satisfying the taste or conscience; esthetically or morally defective. [1913 Webster]
- Nothing imperfect or deficient left Of all that he created. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault; Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- Imperfect arch, an arch of less than a semicircle; a skew arch.
- Imperfect cadence (Mus.), one not ending with the tonic, but with the dominant or some other chord; one not giving complete rest; a half close.
- Imperfect consonances (Mus.), chords like the third and sixth, whose ratios are less simple than those of the fifth and forth.
- Imperfect flower (Bot.), a flower wanting either stamens or pistils. --Gray.
- Imperfect interval (Mus.), one a semitone less than perfect; as, an imperfect fifth.
- Imperfect number (Math.), a number either greater or less than the sum of its several divisors; in the former case, it is called also a defective number; in the latter, an abundant number.
- Imperfect obligations (Law), obligations as of charity or gratitude, which cannot be enforced by law.
- Imperfect power (Math.), a number which can not be produced by taking any whole number or vulgar fraction, as a factor, the number of times indicated by the power; thus, 9 is a perfect square, but an imperfect cube.
- Imperfect tense (Gram.), a tense expressing past time and incomplete action. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Imperfect'
From: GCIDE
- Imperfect \Im*per"fect\ ([i^]m*p[~e]r"f[e^]kt), n. (Gram.) The imperfect tense; or the form of a verb denoting the imperfect tense. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Imperfect'
From: GCIDE
- Imperfect \Im*per"fect\, v. t. To make imperfect. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'imperfect'
From: GCIDE
- Preterimperfect \Pre`ter*im*per"fect\, a. & n. [Pref. preter- + imperfect.] (Gram.) Old name of the tense also called imperfect. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'imperfect'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- adulterated,
- aggravated,
- amiss,
- aorist,
- base,
- blemished,
- broken,
- burned,
- burst,
- busted,
- checked,
- chipped,
- cracked,
- crazed,
- cut,
- damaged,
- defective,
- deficient,
- deteriorated,
- durative,
- embittered,
- erroneous,
- exacerbated,
- failing,
- fallible,
- faulty,
- flawed,
- found wanting,
- future,
- future perfect,
- harmed,
- historical present,
- hurt,
- immature,
- impaired,
- imprecise,
- impure,
- in bits,
- in pieces,
- in shards,
- inaccurate,
- inadequate,
- incompetent,
- incomplete,
- inexact,
- injured,
- insufficient,
- irritated,
- lacerated,
- lacking,
- little,
- makeshift,
- maladroit,
- mangled,
- mean,
- mediocre,
- mixed,
- mutilated,
- not comparable,
- not enough,
- not in it,
- not perfect,
- off,
- out of it,
- partial,
- past,
- past perfect,
- patchy,
- perfect,
- petty,
- pluperfect,
- point tense,
- present,
- present perfect,
- preterit,
- progressive tense,
- rent,
- ruptured,
- scalded,
- scorched,
- shabby,
- shattered,
- short,
- sick,
- sketchy,
- slashed,
- slit,
- small,
- smashed,
- split,
- sprung,
- tense,
- the worse for,
- too little,
- torn,
- trivial,
- undeveloped,
- unequal to,
- uneven,
- unfinished,
- unperfected,
- unqualified,
- unsatisfactory,
- unsatisfying,
- unskillful,
- unsound,
- unsufficing,
- unthorough,
- wanting,
- weakened,
- worse,
- worse off,
- worsened