HOW TO PRONOUNCE
defective
/dɪˈfɛktɪv/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does defective mean?
adjective
- Having one or more defects.
- Lacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
- Having a root whose final consonant is weak (ي, و, or ء).
More meanings (5)
adjective
- Not capable of representing all the phonemic distinctions of a language it is used to write.
- Spelled without matres lectionis, for example אמץ (ómets, “courage”) as opposed to the plene spelling אומץ where the letter vav ⟨ו⟩ indicates the vowel o.
adverb
- Without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels) written out.
noun
- A person or thing considered to be defective.
- A word written without matres lectionis (letters indicating vowels).
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/dɪˈfɛktɪv/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
In considering what Tess was not, he overlooked what she was, and forgot that the defective can be more than the entire.
By our other tests we also found him defective in verbal memory processes, even when he read the passage to be remembered.
More book examples (3)
So, through a defective window-pane, you may see the passer-by shoot up into a hunchbacked giant or dwindle into a potbellied dwarf.
While there may be those of high intelligence who violate the law at times, the barbarian and the defective always violate it.
On the contrary, the most urgent problem to-day is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.