Imperfect

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Imperfect \Im*per"fect\, v. t.
     To make imperfect. [Obs.]
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preterimperfect \Pre`ter*im*per"fect\, a. & n. [Pref. preter- +
     imperfect.] (Gram.)
     Old name of the tense also called {imperfect}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  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}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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.