defect

noun
/ˈdiːfɛkt//dɪˈfɛkt/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin de- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin facio Latin dēficiō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Latin dēfectusbor. English defect Borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”).

  1. borrowed from defectus

Definitions

  1. A fault or malfunction.

    • a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment
    • Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects.
    • But ever since the concept of "hamartia" recurred through Aristotle's Poetics, in an attempt to describe man's ingrained iniquity, our impulse has been to identify a telling defect in those brought suddenly and dramatically low.
  2. The quantity or amount by which anything falls short.

    • and the indefatigable application with which they have supplied the defects of early culture.
  3. A part by which a figure or quantity is wanting or deficient.

  4. + 4 more definitions
    1. To abandon or turn against

      To abandon or turn against; to cease or change one's loyalty, especially from a military organisation or political party.

    2. To desert one's army, to flee from combat.

    3. To join the enemy army.

    4. To flee one's country and seek asylum.

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

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at defect. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01defect02fault03flaw04fissure05tissue06gold07deep08reference09well10accurately

A definitional loop anchored at defect. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at defect

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA