# defective
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English defectif, defective, from Old French defectif, from Late Latin dēfectīvus.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /dɪˈfɛktɪv/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛktɪv

### Adjective

defective (comparative more defective, superlative most defective)
* Having one or more defects.
    Synonym: faulty
    Antonyms: complete, perfect, undefective
** 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 4 January 2017, page 83: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.
* (grammar, of a lexeme, especially a verb) Lacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
* (Arabic grammar, of a verb) Having a root whose final consonant is weak (ي, و, or ء).
* (orthography, of a script) Not capable of representing all the phonemic distinctions of a language it is used to write.
* (chiefly of abjad script) Spelled without matres lectionis, for example אמץ (ómets, “courage”) as opposed to the plene spelling אומץ where the letter vav ⟨ו⟩ indicates the vowel o.
    Antonym: plene

#### Derived terms

* defectively
* defective matrix
* defectiveness
* defective number
* defective on arrival
* defective verb
* defectivity
* immunodefective
* indefective
* nondefective
* phosphodefective

#### Related terms

* defect
* defection
* defector
* deficiency
* deficient
* deficit

#### Collocations

* defective merchanise
* defective goods
* defective part
* defective component
* defective product
* defective equipment
* defective gene
* defective unit
* defective construction
* defective design
* defective drug
* defective memory
* defective wiring
* defective machine
* defective device
* defective instrument
* defective hardware
* defective software
* defective vehicle

#### Translations
### Adverb

defective (not comparable)
* (chiefly of abjad script) Without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels) written out.
    Antonym: plene
** 2013, Gregor Geiger, Plene Writing of the Qōṭēl Pattern in the Dead Sea Scrolls: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.

### Noun

defective (plural defectives)
* A person or thing considered to be defective.
** 1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 9(1)”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956‎, page 3: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.
** 2007 January 15, Bernard E. Harcourt, “The Mentally Ill, Behind Bars”, in New York Times‎: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.
* (chiefly of abjad script) A word written without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels).
    Antonym: plene
** 2011, Christian D. Ginsburg, Jacob Ben Chajim Ibn Adonijah's Introduction to the Rabbinic Bible: Hebrew and English with Explanatory Notes:Thus, in the Pentateuch and in the earlier prophets the plenes are counted, whilst in the later prophets the defectives are enumerated.

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “defective”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

## Interlingua
### Adjective

defective (comparative plus defective, superlative le plus defective)
* defective (having defects)

## Latin
### Adjective

dēfective
* vocative masculine singular of dēfectivus