Adjacent Words

Flaw definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLAW, n. [Gr. seems to be contracted .
1. A breach; a crack; a defect made by breaking or splitting; a gap or fissure; as a flaw in a scythe, knife or razor; a flaw in a china dish, or in a glass; a flaw in a wall.
2. A defect; a fault; any defect made by violence, or occasioned by neglect; as a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a will, or in a deed, or in a statute.
3. A sudden burst of wind; a sudden gust or blast of short duration; a word of common use among seamen. [This proves the primary sense to be, to burst or rush.]
4. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar.
And deluges of armies from the town
Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.
[In this sense, the word is not used in the United States.]
5. A sudden commotion of mind. [Not used.]
FLAW, v.t.
1. To break; to crack.
The brazen cauldrons with the frosts are flawed.
2. To break; to violate; as, to flaw a league. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an imperfection in an object or machine; "a flaw caused the crystal to shatter"; "if there are any defects you should send it back to the manufacturer" [syn: defect, fault, flaw]
2: defect or weakness in a person's character; "he had his flaws, but he was great nonetheless"
3: an imperfection in a plan or theory or legal document that causes it to fail or that reduces its effectiveness v
1: add a flaw or blemish to; make imperfect or defective [syn: flaw, blemish]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian flaga gust, squall Date: 1513 1. a sudden brief burst of wind; also a spell of stormy weather 2. obsolete an outburst especially of passion II. noun Etymology: Middle English, flake, from Old Norse flaga stone slab, moldarflaga thin layer of turf; akin to Old English fl?h flat stone Date: 1586 1. a. a defect in physical structure or form <a diamond with a flaw> b. an imperfection or weakness and especially one that detracts from the whole or hinders effectiveness <vanity was the flaw in his character> <a flaw in the book's plot> 2. obsolete fragment • flawed adjective • flawless adjective • flawlessly adverb • flawlessness noun III. verb Date: 1610 transitive verb to make flaws in ; mar intransitive verb to become defective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 an imperfection; a blemish (has a character without a flaw). 2 a crack or similar fault (the cup has a flaw). 3 Law an invalidating defect in a legal matter. --v.tr. & intr. crack; damage; spoil. Derivatives: flawless adj. flawlessly adv. flawlessness n. Etymology: ME perh. f. ON flaga slab f. Gmc: cf. FLAKE(1), FLAG(2) 2. n. a squall of wind; a short storm. Etymology: prob. f. MDu. vlaghe, MLG vlage, perh. = stroke

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flaw Flaw, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Flawed; p. pr. & vb. n. Flawing.] 1. To crack; to make flaws in. The brazen caldrons with the frosts are flawed. --Dryden. 2. To break; to violate; to make of no effect. [Obs.] France hath flawed the league. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flaw Flaw, n. [OE. flai, flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga flaw, crack, breach, flake, D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw. flage, flaag, and E. flag a flat stone.] 1. A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife or a vase. This heart Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws. --Shak. 2. A defect; a fault; as, a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute. Has not this also its flaws and its dark side? --South. 3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel. [Obs.] And deluges of armies from the town Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw. --Dryden. 4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration. Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw. --Milton. Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn. --Tennyson. Syn: Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(flaws) 1. A flaw in something such as a theory or argument is a mistake in it, which causes it to be less effective or valid. Almost all of these studies have serious flaws. N-COUNT: oft N in n 2. A flaw in someone's character is an undesirable quality that they have. The only flaw in his character seems to be a short temper. = defect, failing N-COUNT: oft N in n 3. A flaw in something such as a pattern or material is a fault in it that should not be there. = imperfection N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Break, crack, breach, cleft, fissure, rift, fracture, rent. 2. Blemish, spot, speck, fleck, fault, defect, imperfection. 3. (Naut.) Gust of wind.

Moby Thesaurus

aberrancy, aberration, abysm, abyss, arroyo, bad habit, besetting sin, birthmark, black mark, blackhead, blast, bleb, blemish, blister, blot, blow, box canyon, breach, break, bug, bulla, canyon, catch, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chip, cicatrix, cicatrize, cleavage, cleft, cleuch, clough, col, comedo, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater, craze, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, damage, deface, defacement, defect, defection, defectiveness, deficiency, defile, deform, deformation, deformity, dell, delusion, deviancy, dike, discredit, disfiguration, disfigure, disfigurement, distort, distortion, ditch, donga, draw, drawback, errancy, erroneousness, error, excavation, failing, failure, fallaciousness, fallacy, falseness, falsity, fault, faultiness, faute, fissure, flawedness, flume, flurry, foible, fracture, frailty, freckle, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, gust, hamartia, harm, hemangioma, heresy, heterodoxy, hickey, hole, hurt, illusion, imperfection, inadequacy, incision, infirmity, joint, keloid, kink, kloof, leak, lentigo, little problem, loophole, mar, mark, milium, misapplication, misconstruction, misdoing, misfeasance, misinterpretation, misjudgment, mistake, moat, mole, moral flaw, needle scar, nevus, notch, nullah, opening, pass, passage, peccancy, perforation, perversion, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, problem, puncture, pustule, ravine, rent, rift, rime, rip, ruin, rupture, scab, scar, scarify, scissure, scratch, scud, seam, sebaceous cyst, self-contradiction, shortcoming, sin, sinfulness, slit, slot, snag, something missing, split, spoil, stain, stigmatize, strawberry mark, sty, taint, tear, track, trench, twist, unorthodoxy, untrueness, untruth, untruthfulness, valley, verruca, vesicle, vice, void, vulnerable place, wadi, wale, warp, wart, weak link, weak point, weak side, weaken, weakness, weal, welt, wen, whitehead, wind gust, wrong, wrongness