defect

English

Etymology

FromMiddle Frenchdefaicte,fromLatindefectus(“a failure, lack”),fromdeficere(“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”),from past participledefectus,fromde-(“priv.”)+facere(“to do”).

Pronunciation

• (noun)enPR:dē'fĕkt,IPA^(key):/ˈdiːfɛkt/

  • Audio(US):

    (file)

• (verb)enPR:dĭfĕkt',IPA^(key):/dɪˈfɛkt/

  • Audio(Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes:-ɛkt

Noun

defect(pluraldefects)

1. Afaultormalfunction.

   adefectin the ear or eye; adefectin timber or iron; adefectof memory or judgment

   • 1856February,[Thomas Babington] Macaulay,“Oliver Goldsmith”,inT[homas] F[lower] E[llis],editor,The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay,new edition, London:Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer,published1871,→OCLC:

     Among boys little tenderness is shown to personaldefects.

   • 2014October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities”, inThe Daily Telegraph(Sport)‎^[1]:

     But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred throughAristotle'sPoetics,in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a tellingdefectin those brought suddenly and dramatically low.

   • 2018,James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, inEnglish World-Wide‎^[2],page 4:

     Another majordefectof the current literature dealing with the nomenclature of hybrid forms of English is the scant attention paid to the question of frequency.

2. Thequantityoramountby which anything fallsshort.
   • 1824,Lydia Sigourney,Sketch of Connecticut:

     and the indefatigable application with which they have supplied thedefectsof early culture.

3. (mathematics)Apartby which afigureor quantity iswantingor deficient.

Synonyms

• See alsoThesaurus:defect

Derived terms

• angular defect
• birth defect
• CHILD syndrome
• congenital heart defect
• defect of one's qualities
• Frenkel defect
• mass defect
• organic defect
• Schottky defect
• title defect

Related terms

• defective
• defeat
• deficiency
• deficient
• deficit

Collocations

Adjectives often used with "defect"

major, minor, serious, cosmetic, functional, critical, fatal, basic, fundamental, main, primary, principal, radical, inherent

Descendants

• →Hebrew:דֵּפֶקְט(defékt)

Translations

fault or malfunction

• Arabic:خَلَلm(ḵalal),عَيْبm(ʕayb),عَوَارm(ʕawār)
• Armenian:արատ(hy)(arat)
• Assamese:খুঁত(khũt)
• Azerbaijani:qüsur(az),nöqsan(az),naqislik,kəsir
• Belarusian:дэфе́ктm(defjékt),га́наf(hána)
• Bikol Central:kakundian
• Bulgarian:недоста́тък(bg)m(nedostátǎk),повре́да(bg)(povréda),дефе́кт(bg)m(defékt)
• Catalan:defecte(ca)m
• Chichewa:bala
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Khuyết điểm／Khuyết điểm(zh)(quēdiǎn),Vấn đề／Vấn đề(zh)(wèntí),Khuyết hãm(zh)(quēxiàn),Nhược điểm／Nhược điểm(zh)(ruòdiǎn),Mao bệnh(zh)(máobing, máobìng)

• Czech:závada(cs)f,porucha(cs)f,vada(cs)f,defekt(cs)m
• Estonian:viga,defekt
• Finnish:vika(fi)
• French:défaut(fr)m
• German:Fehler(de)m,Defekt(de)m
• Greek:ελάττωμα(el)n(eláttoma)

  Ancient:ἐλάττωμαn(eláttōma)

• Hebrew:פגם(he)m(pgam)
• Hindi:दोष(hi)m(doṣ),खोट(hi)m(khoṭ)
• Hungarian:hiányosság(hu),rendellenesség(hu),fogyatékosság(hu),hiány(hu),hiba(hu)
• Indonesian:cacat(id)
• Ingrian:defekta
• Italian:difetto(it)m
• Japanese:Khiếm 陥(ja)(けっかん, kekkan),Khiếm điểm(ja)(けってん, ketten)
• Korean:결함(ko)(gyeolham)
• Latin:vitiumn,mendaf
• Macedonian:дефектm(defekt)
• Maori:tōrōkiri
• Persian:عیب(fa)('eyb),عوار(fa)('avâr),نقص(fa)(naqs)
• Polish:wada(pl)f,defekt(pl)m,usterka(pl)f
• Portuguese:defeito(pt)m
• Russian:недоста́ток(ru)m(nedostátok),дефе́кт(ru)m(defékt),изъя́н(ru)m(izʺján),брак(ru)m(brak)
• Sanskrit:रपस्(sa)n(rapas)(bodily)
• Scottish Gaelic:cronm
• Serbo-Croatian:defekt(sh)m

  Cyrillic:недостатакm

  Roman:nedostatak(sh)m

• Slovak:vadaf,poruchaf,defektm
• Slovene:okvaraf,napaka(sl)f
• Spanish:falla(es)f,tacha(es)f,defecto(es)m,desperfecto(es)m
• Swahili:kasoro(sw)
• Telugu:లోపం(lōpaṁ)
• Thai:บกพร่อง(th)(bòk-prông)
• Ukrainian:ґандж(uk)m(gandž),ва́да(uk)f(váda),дефе́кт(uk)m(defékt),хи́баf(xýba)
• Vietnamese:tật(vi),lỗi(vi)
• Yiddish:חסרוןm(khisorn)

Verb

defect(third-person singular simple presentdefects,present participledefecting,simple past and past participledefected)

1. (intransitive)Toabandonorturn against;toceaseor change one'sloyalty,especially from a military organisation or political party.
   • 2013May 23,Sarah Lyall,“British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”,inNew York Times,retrieved29 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 todefect.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.”

2. (military)Todesertone'sarmy,tofleefromcombat.
3. (military)Tojointheenemyarmy.
4. (law)Tofleeone'scountryandseekasylum.
   • 2015August 15, Choe Sang-Hun, “A North Korean Defector’s Regret”, inThe New York Times‎^[3],retrieved20 September 2015:

     Passing through Thailand, she submitted a handwritten statement agreeing todefect,a requirement for North Korean refugees to be allowed to enter the South.

Derived terms

• defection
• defector
• redefect

Translations

to abandon; to change one's loyalty

• Bulgarian:дезерти́рам(bg)impforpf(dezertíram)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Biến tiết／Biến tiết(zh)(biànjié),Bạn biến／Bạn biến(zh)(pànbiàn)

• Dutch:overlopen(nl),deserteren(nl)
• Finnish:loikata(fi)
• French:déserter(fr),passer à
• Georgian:განდგომა(gandgoma)
• German:überlaufen(de),sich zurückziehen(de),aussteigen(de),desertieren(de)
• Greek:αυτομολώ(el)(aftomoló),αποσκιρτώ(el)(aposkirtó)
• Hebrew:ערק(he)('aráq)
• Hungarian:elszakad(hu),cserbenhagy(hu),otthagy(hu),elhagy(hu)
• Indonesian:membelot(id)
• Italian:defezionare(it)
• Japanese:変 tiết する(へんせつする, hensetsu suru)
• Korean:변절하다(ko)(byeonjeolhada)
• Latin:dēscīscō
• Maori:whakarere
• Portuguese:trair(pt),desertar
• Russian:изменя́ть(ru)impf(izmenjátʹ),дезерти́ровать(ru)impforpf(dezertírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:пребјећи

  Roman:prebjeći

• Spanish:desertar(es),pasarse(es)

to desert; to flee combat

• Dutch:deserteren(nl)
• Finnish:karatarintamalta,karata(fi)
• Georgian:დეზერტირობა(dezerṭiroba)
• German:desertieren(de)
• Hungarian:dezertál(hu),megszökik(hu)
• Italian:disertare(it)
• Russian:дезерти́ровать(ru)(dezertírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:dezertirati(sh)
• Slovene:dezertirati

to join the enemy

• Albanian:please add this translation if you can
• Armenian:please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian:please add this translation if you can
• Chechen:please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:please add this translation if you can

• Dutch:overlopen(nl)
• Esperanto:please add this translation if you can
• Estonian:please add this translation if you can
• Finnish:loikata(fi)
• French:please add this translation if you can
• Georgian:please add this translation if you can
• German:überlaufen(de)
• Hungarian:átáll(hu),átpártol(hu)
• Latin:transfugiō
• Latvian:please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian:please add this translation if you can
• Polish:dezerterowaćimpf,zdezerterowaćpf
• Romanian:please add this translation if you can
• Russian:переходи́ть на сто́рону проти́вника(perexodítʹ na stóronu protívnika)
• Serbo-Croatian:prebeći,prebjeći
• Slovak:please add this translation if you can
• Slovene:prebegniti
• Turkish:please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian:please add this translation if you can

to flee one's country and seek asylum

• Dutch:asiel aanvragen,overlopen(nl)
• Finnish:loikata(fi),paeta(fi)
• Hungarian:(to flee)elszökik(hu),(with emphasis on illegality)disszidál(hu)
• Indonesian:membelot(id)
• Serbo-Croatian:izbeći,izbjeći
• Slovene:prebegniti

Further reading

• “defect”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “defect”,inThe Century Dictionary[…],New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,1911,→OCLC.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed fromLatindēfectus,dēfectum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/deːˈfɛkt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation:de‧fect
• Rhymes:-ɛkt

Adjective

defect(comparativedefecter,superlativedefectst)

1. broken,notworking

Inflection

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

Synonyms

• kapot

Descendants

• Petjo:defèk

Noun

defectn(pluraldefecten,diminutivedefectjen)

1. Adefect.

Descendants

• →Indonesian:défèk

Romanian

Etymology

BorrowedfromLatindefectusorGermanDefekt.

Adjective

defectmorn(feminine singulardefectă,masculine pluraldefecți,feminine and neuter pluraldefecte)

1. defective

Declension

Declension ofdefect

		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

defectn(pluraldefecte)

1. defect

Declension

Declension ofdefect

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un)defect	defectul	(niște)defecte	defectele
genitive/dative	(unui)defect	defectului	(unor)defecte	defectelor
vocative	defectule		defectelor