imperfect

CEFRB1

/ɪmpə(ɹ)ˈfɛkt/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Not perfect or complete.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Known or expected to be polyphyletic, as of a form taxon.

Examples

  • Partly because he could not receive enough information, Harper's description remains imperfect.

  • We are all imperfect. We cannot expect perfect government.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • /ɪmˈpɜː(ɹ)fɪkt/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Unisexual: having either male (with stamens) or female (with pistil) flowers, but not with both.

  2. Not perfect,

  3. Representing a continuing or repeated action.

More examples

In context

  • 1651, John Donne, Letter to Henry Goodere, in Letters to Severall Persons of Honour, edited by Charles Edmund Merrill, Jr., New York: Sturgis & Walton, 1910, I write to you from the Spring Garden, whither I withdrew my self to think of this; and the intensene...

  • Nothing imperfet or deficient left Of all that he Created.

  • Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The antique vase was blank because it had a small crack near the rim.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English imperfit, from Old French imparfit (modern French imparfait), from Latin imperfectus. Spelling modified 15c. to conform Latin etymology. See im- + perfect.