flaw
[noun]
Synonyms: weakness, blemish, chink in one's armour, defect, failing, fault, imperfection, weak spot

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Related Words: cleavage, rent, rip, riving, split, tear

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

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

flaw /flɔː $ flɒː/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1300-1400; Origin: Perhaps from Old Norse flaga 'flat stone'; ⇒ flag¹]

1. a mistake, mark, or weakness that makes something imperfect Synonym : defect
flaw in
a flaw in the software
serious/major/basic/minor etc flaw
a slight flaw in the glass
A design flaw (=a mistake or weakness in the way something was made) caused the engine to explode.

2. a mistake or problem in an argument, plan, set of ideas etc
flaw of
Beautiful scenery does not make up for the flaws of this film.
flaw in
There is a fundamental flaw in Walton’s argument.
fatal flaw (=a weakness that makes something certain to fail)

3. a fault in someone’s character:
Jealousy is Othello’s major flaw.
the President’s character flaws

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

flaw
noun
ADJ. main, major, serious | basic, fatal, fundamental | minor, slight, small | obvious | design
VERB + FLAW have Unfortunately, this plate has a slight flaw in it.
look for | discover, find, identify, see It took me a long time to find the flaw in her logic. Engineers have identified serious design flaws in the proposed nuclear waste dump.
expose, highlight, point out/to, reveal The markets have exposed the fatal flaw in the government's economic policy.
FLAW + VERB appear Flaws have appeared in the new version of the software.
PREP. ~ in one of the major flaws in his character

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

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 ▲