Defective vs Improper - What's the difference?
defective | improper |
Having one or more defects.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-03
, author=
, title=The Smallest Cell
, volume=101, issue=2, page=83
, magazine=
lacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
A person considered to be defective.
* {{quote-news, year=2007, date=January 15, author=Bernard E. Harcourt, title=The Mentally Ill, Behind Bars, work=New York Times
, passage=There were many more kinds of mental institutions at mid-century, ones for “mental defectives and epileptics” and the mentally retarded, psychiatric wards in veterans hospitals, as well as “psychopathic” and private mental hospitals. }}
unsuitable to needs or circumstances; inappropriate; inapt
Not in keeping with conventional mores or good manners; indecent or immodest
Not according to facts; inaccurate or erroneous
Not consistent with established facts; incorrect
Not properly named; See, for example, improper fraction
(obsolete) Not specific or appropriate to individuals; general; common.
* J. Fletcher
(obsolete) To appropriate; to limit.
* Jewel
(obsolete) To behave improperly
(Webster 1913)
As adjectives the difference between defective and improper
is that defective is having one or more defects while improper is unsuitable to needs or circumstances; inappropriate; inapt.As a noun defective
is a person considered to be defective.As a verb improper is
to appropriate; to limit.defective
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=It is likely that the long evolutionary trajectory of Mycoplasma went from a reductive autotroph to oxidative heterotroph to a cell-wall–defective degenerate parasite. This evolutionary trajectory assumes the simplicity to complexity route of biogenesis, a point of view that is not universally accepted.}}
Usage notes
* Nouns to which "defective" is often applied: merchandise, goods, part, component, product, equipment, gene, unit, construction, design, drug, memory, wiring, machine, device, instrument, hardware, software, vehicle.Synonyms
* faultyNoun
(en noun)citation
See also
*improper
English
Alternative forms
* impropre (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Not to be adorned with any art but such improper ones as nature is said to bestow, as singing and poetry.
Derived terms
* improper divisor * improper face * improper fit * improper fraction * improper integral * improper motion * improper node * improper orthogonal transformation * improper rotation * improper use * improper workmanshipVerb
(en verb)- He would in like manner improper and inclose the sunbeams to comfort the rich and not the poor.