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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Defect


DEFECT, noun [Latin To fail; to make or do.]

1. Want or absence of something necessary or useful towards perfection; fault; imperfection.

Errors have been corrected, and defects supplied.

We say, there are numerous defects in the plan, or in the work, or in the execution.

2. Failing; fault; mistake; imperfection in moral conduct, or in judgment.

A deep conviction of the defects of our lives tends to make us humble.

Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know,

Make use of every friend and every foe.

3. Any want, or imperfection, in natural objects; the absence of any thing necessary to perfection; any thing unnatural or misplaced; blemish; deformity. We speak of a defect in the organs of seeing or hearing, or in a limb; a defect in timber; a defect in an instrument, etc.

DEFECT, verb intransitive To be deficient.