Defective Meaning
/dɪˈfɛktɪv/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjHaving one or more defects.
adjLacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
Sentence Examples
They replaced the defective TV with a new one.
Some diseases are caused by a defective gene.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The manufacturer recalled the ____ airbags that failed to deploy during crashes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They replaced the ____ TV with a new one.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English defectif, defective, from Old French defectif, from Late Latin dēfectīvus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted."
— 2013 March, Harold J. Morowitz, “The Smallest Cell”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, United States: Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2017, page 83:
"For the sake of comparison, note the distribution of these spellings in some other Hebrew sources: in the MT the vowel o after the first consonant of the root is written defective in approximately 3,600 cases as against 850 cases of plene spelling."
— 2013, Gregor Geiger, Plene Writing of the Qōṭēl Pattern in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
"It is an offence, subject to the exception mentioned in this section, for a person to procure a woman who is a defective to have unlawful sexual intercourse in any part of the world."
— 1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 9(1)”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956, page 3:
"There were many more kinds of mental institutions at mid-century, ones for "mental defectives and epileptics" and the mentally retarded, psychiatric wards in veterans hospitals, as well as "psychopathic" and private mental hospitals."
— 2007 January 15, Bernard E. Harcourt, “The Mentally Ill, Behind Bars”, in New York Times:
"Thus, in the Pentateuch and in the earlier prophets the plenes are counted, whilst in the later prophets the defectives are enumerated."
— 2011, Christian D. Ginsburg, Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible: Hebrew and English with Explanatory Notes:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The manufacturer recalled the ____ airbags that failed to deploy during crashes.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
They replaced the ____ TV with a new one.