imperfect
adjective · noun · verb
Simple meaning
Not perfect; defective or inadequate.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihmpurfiktSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪmˈpɝfɪkt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not perfect; defective or inadequate
“Had only an imperfect understanding of his responsibilities.”
grammarof a tense or verb form
Representing a continuing or repeated action.
noun
Something having a minor flaw.
verb
transitive
To make imperfect
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Not perfect; defective or inadequate
Used this way, imperfect is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
“Had only an imperfect understanding of his responsibilities.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use imperfect
- “Had only an imperfect understanding of his responsibilities.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.