defect

English

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *de
Proto-Indo-European *-h₁
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē
Latin de-
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti
Proto-Italic *θakjō
Proto-Italic *fakjō
Latin facio
Latin dēficiō
Proto-Indo-European *-tus
Proto-Italic *-tus
Latin -tus
Latin dēfectusbor.
English defect

    Borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”).

    Pronunciation

    • (noun) enPR: dē'fĕkt, IPA(key): /ˈdiːfɛkt/
      • Audio (US):(file)
    • (verb) enPR: dĭfĕkt', IPA(key): /dɪˈfɛkt/
    • Rhymes: -ɛkt

    Noun

    defect (plural defects)

    1. A fault or malfunction.
      a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment
      • 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
        Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects.
      • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎[1], archived from the original on 15 July 2025:
        But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
      • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎[2], archived from the original on 10 February 2026, page 4:
        Another major defect of the current literature dealing with the nomenclature of hybrid forms of English is the scant attention paid to the question of frequency.
    2. The quantity or amount by which anything falls short.
    3. (mathematics) A part by which a figure or quantity is wanting or deficient.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Collocations

    Adjectives often used with "defect"
    • major, minor, serious, cosmetic, functional, critical, fatal, basic, fundamental, main, primary, principal, radical, inherent

    Translations

    Verb

    defect (third-person singular simple present defects, present participle defecting, simple past and past participle defected)

    1. (intransitive) To abandon or turn against; to cease or change one's loyalty, especially from a military organisation or political party.
      • 2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in The New York Times‎[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, retrieved 29 May 2013:
        Capitalizing on the restive mood, Mr. Farage, the U.K. Independence Party leader, took out an advertisement in The Daily Telegraph this week inviting unhappy Tories to defect. In it Mr. Farage sniped that the Cameron government — made up disproportionately of career politicians who graduated from Eton and Oxbridge — was “run by a bunch of college kids, none of whom have ever had a proper job in their lives.”
        (Can we archive this URL?)
    2. (military) To desert one's army, to flee from combat.
    3. (military) To join the enemy army.
    4. (law) To flee one's country and seek asylum.

    Derived terms

    Translations

    Further reading

    Dutch

    Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin dēfectus, dēfectum.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /deːˈfɛkt/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: de‧fect
    • Rhymes: -ɛkt

    Adjective

    defect (comparative defecter, superlative defectst)

    1. broken, not working
      Synonyms: kapot, stuk, kaduuk

    Declension

    Declension of defect
    uninflected defect
    inflected defecte
    comparative defecter
    positive comparative superlative
    predicative/adverbial defect defecter het defectst
    het defectste
    indefinite m./f. sing. defecte defectere defectste
    n. sing. defect defecter defectste
    plural defecte defectere defectste
    definite defecte defectere defectste
    partitive defects defecters —

    Descendants

    • Petjo: defèk

    Noun

    defect n (plural defecten, diminutive defectje n)

    1. a defect

    Descendants

    Romanian

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin defectus, or borrowed from German Defekt.

      Adjective

      defect m or n (feminine singular defectă, masculine plural defecți, feminine/neuter plural defecte)

      1. defective

      Declension

      Declension of defect
      singular plural
      masculine neuter feminine masculine neuter feminine
      nominative-
      accusative       		indefinite defect defectă defecți defecte
      definite defectul defecta defecții defectele
      genitive-
      dative       		indefinite defect defecte defecți defecte
      definite defectului defectei defecților defectelor

      Noun

      defect n (plural defecte)

      1. defect

      Declension

      singular plural
      indefinite definite indefinite definite
      nominative-accusative defect defectul defecte defectele
      genitive-dative defect defectului defecte defectelor
      vocative defectule defectelor
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