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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Imperfect \Im*per"fect\, v. t.
To make imperfect. [Obs.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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Something he left imperfect in the state. --Shak.
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Why, then, your other senses grow imperfect. --Shak.
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2. Wanting in some elementary organ that is essential to
successful or normal activity.
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He . . . stammered like a child, or an amazed,
imperfect person. --Jer. Taylor.
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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.
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Nothing imperfect or deficient left
Of all that he created. --Milton.
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Then say not man's imperfect, Heaven in fault;
Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought. --Pope.
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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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Preterimperfect \Pre`ter*im*per"fect\, a. & n. [Pref. preter- +
imperfect.] (Gram.)
Old name of the tense also called imperfect.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
imperfect
adj 1: not perfect; defective or inadequate; "had only an imperfect
understanding of his responsibilities"; "imperfect
mortals"; "drainage here is imperfect" [ant: perfect]
2: having the attributes of man as opposed to e.g. divine
beings; "I'm only human"; "frail humanity" [syn: fallible,
frail, weak]
n : a tense of verbs used in describing action that is on-going
[syn: progressive, progressive tense, imperfect
tense, continuous tense]
WordNet (r) 2.0
113 Moby Thesaurus words for "imperfect":
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
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
IMPERFECT. That which is incomplete.
2. This term is applied to rights and obligations. A man has a right to
be relieved by his fellow-creatures, when in distress; but this right he
cannot enforce by law; hence it is called an imperfect right. On the other
hand, we are bound to be grateful for favors received, but we cannot be
compelled to perform such imperfect obligations. Vide Poth. Ob. arc.
Preliminaire; Vattel, Dr. des Gens, Prel. notes, Sec. 17; and Obligations.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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