defect
[noun]
Synonyms:
- imperfection, blemish, blotch, error, failing, fault, flaw, spot, taint
[verb]
Synonyms:
- desert, abandon, change sides, go over, rebel, revolt, walk out on (informal)

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Antonyms: excess
Contrasted words: excellence, faultlessness, impeccability, merit, perfection, virtue, overage, overplus, superfluity, surplus, surplusage, adhere (to), cling (to), hang on, stick (to or with), cherish, cultivate, foster
Related Idioms: change sides, go back on, go over, turn one's coat, walk (or run) out on
Related Words: failing, fault, foible, frailty, infirmity, weakness, deficiency, imperfection, shortcoming, scantiness, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, abandon, forsake, back out, renege, withdraw, depart, go, leave, quit, reject, spurn

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English Thesaurus: fault, defect, weakness, flaw, bug, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. de‧fect¹ /dɪˈfekt, ˈdiːfekt/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1400-1500; Language: Old French; Origin: Latin defectus 'lack', from defectus, past participle of deficere 'to go away from, fail, lack']
a fault or a lack of something that means that something or someone is not perfect:
All the cars are tested for defects before they leave the factory.
a genetic defect

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. defect² /dɪˈfekt/ verb [intransitive]
[Date: 1500-1600; Language: Latin; Origin: defectus, past participle; ⇒ defect¹]
to leave your own country or group in order to go to or join an opposing one
defect to/from
a Russian actor who defected to the West
—defector noun [countable]
—defection /dɪˈfekʃən/ noun [uncountable and countable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

defect
noun
ADJ. fundamental, important, major, serious a fundamental defect in the product
minor, slight, small Goods with slight defects are sold at half price.
building, mechanical, structural | birth, congenital, genetic All lambs are checked for birth defects when they are born.
eye, heart, physical, sight, speech, visual | character
VERB + DEFECT contain, have, suffer from The book contains serious defects. He has a congenital heart defect.
find The inspector found defects in the aircraft's construction.
correct, cure, remedy, repair This is a physical defect that cannot be cured. The builders agreed to remedy the structural defects.
PREP. ~ in major defects in the education system
~ of a defect of her character

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

defect

a serious defect
The movie has a few serious defects.
a major defect (=very serious)
They have found a major defect in the program.
a slight/minor defect
There are one or two minor defects on the car’s paintwork.
a physical defect
Doctors examined the baby and could find no physical defects.
a structural defect
Older buildings are bound to have some structural defects.
a genetic/inherited defect (=one that is passed to you in your genes)
The condition is caused by a genetic defect.
a birth defect (=one that you are born with)
About 11% of children have birth defects.
a heart defect
Laura was born with a rare heart defect.
a speech defect (=an incorrect way of saying certain sounds)
He had a speech defect which made it quite difficult to understand him.
a character defect (=a fault in your character)
Laziness was just one of his character defects.
have a defect
The old system had some serious defects.
correct a defect
She had surgery to correct a defect in her right eye.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

defect
noun
BAD: Any products that are found to be defect will be replaced.
GOOD: Any products that are found to be defective will be replaced.

Usage Note:
Defect is a noun: 'The test flight revealed a number of small defects in the navigation system.'
The adjective is defective : 'Nowadays defective software is quite unusual.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

fault a problem in a machine, system, design etc that causes damage or makes it not work properly:
The fire was caused by an electrical fault.
a fault in the engine
defect a fault in something such as a product or machine, resulting from the way it was made or designed:
Cars are tested for defects before they leave the factory.
weakness a part of a plan, system, or argument that is not as good as the other parts, and makes it likely to fail:
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each method?
flaw a fault in a plan, system, argument etc, especially one that makes it useless or not effective:
Your argument has a fundamental flaw.
There was one major flaw in his suggestion – we didn’t have enough money.
bug a fault in a computer program:
A bug in the system was quickly fixed.
glitch a small fault in the way something works, that can usually be easily corrected:
I noticed a small glitch when installing the software.
mistake something that is wrong in someone’s spelling, grammar, calculations etc:
The article was full of spelling mistakes.
there’s something wrong with something used when saying that there is a problem in a machine, car etc, but you do not know what it is:
There’s something wrong with the computer – it won’t close down.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲