| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| defect |
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| SYLLABICATION: | de·fect |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d  f kt , d -fkt |
| NOUN: | 1. The lack of something necessary or desirable for completion or perfection; a deficiency: a visual defect. 2. An imperfection that causes inadequacy or failure; a shortcoming. See synonyms at blemish. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: de·fect·ed, de·fect·ing, de·fects
(d-fkt)1. To disown allegiance to one's country and take up residence in another: a Soviet citizen who defected to Israel. 2. To abandon a position or association, often to join an opposing group: defected from the party over the issue of free trade. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Latin dfectus, failure, want, from past participle of dficere, to desert, be wanting : d-, de- + facere, to do; see dh- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | de·fection —NOUN
de·fector —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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