Defective

Quick meaning: Defective is an adjective meaning Having one or more defects.

Meaning

Having one or more defects.

More Meanings

1. (grammar, of a lexeme, especially a verb) Lacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
2. (Arabic grammar, of a verb) Having a root whose final consonant is weak (ي, و, or ء).
3. (orthography, of a script) Not capable of representing all the phonemic distinctions of a language it is used to write.
4. A person or thing considered to be defective.
5. (chiefly of abjad script) Without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels) written out.
6. (chiefly of abjad script) A word written without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels).
7. (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.

Example Sentences

Thus, in the Pentateuch and in the earlier prophets the plenes are counted, whilst in the later prophets the defectives are enumerated.

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.

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.

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.

Word Forms

• defectives

Synonyms for defective

Depending on context, synonyms include faulty, bad, abnormal, malfunctioning, nonfunctional.

Antonyms for defective

Common opposites include complete, perfect, undefective, plene.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include faulty, malfunctioning, bad, nonfunctional, abnormal, defect.

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