Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Imperfectly |
ImperfectlyAdverb1. In an imperfect or faulty way; "The lobe was imperfectly developed"; "Miss Bennet would not play at all amiss if she practiced more"- Jane Austen. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "imperfectly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1415. (references) |
Synonym: ImperfectlySynonym: amiss (adv). (additional references) |
| Antonym: perfectly (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Smallness | Adverb: to a small extent, on a small scale; a little bit, a wee bit; slightly; Adjective: imperceptibly; miserably, wretchedly; insufficiently; imperfectly; faintly; passably, pretty well, well enough. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | The largest of the two pirate ships was commanded by a Japanese Captain, who spoke a little Dutch, but very imperfectly. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Central African Republic | The telephone system functions, albeit imperfectly. (references) |
Tanzania | In Tanzania, the justice system functions slowly and imperfectly and is easily influenced or manipulated by privileged individuals. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TIGHTS, n. An habiliment of the stage designed to reinforce the general acclamation of the press agent with a particular publicity. Public attention was once somewhat diverted from this garment to Miss Lillian Russell's refusal to wear it, and many were the conjectures as to her motive, the guess of Miss Pauline Hall showing a high order of ingenuity and sustained reflection. It was Miss Hall's belief that nature had not endowed Miss Russell with beautiful legs. This theory was impossible of acceptance by the male understanding, but the conception of a faulty female leg was of so prodigious originality as to rank among the most brilliant feats of philosophical speculation! It is strange that in all the controversy regarding Miss Russell's aversion to tights no one seems to have thought to ascribe it to what was known among the ancients as "modesty." The nature of that sentiment is now imperfectly understood, and possibly incapable of exposition with the vocabulary that remains to us. The study of lost arts has, however, been recently revived and some of the arts themselves recovered. This is an epoch of renaissances, and there is ground for hope that the primitive "blush" may be dragged from its hiding-place amongst the tombs of antiquity and hissed on to the stage. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | This act has been very imperfectly executed from the want of uniformity in the organization of the militia, proceeding from the defects of the system itself, and especially in its application to that main arm of the public defense. |
Abraham Lincoln | 1861-1865 | The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Imperfectly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.16% of the time. "Imperfectly" is used about 119 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 99.16% | 118 | 29,674 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.84% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 119 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "imperfectly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 不完美地. (various references) | |
French | imparfaitement. (various references) | |
German | unvollständige (inchoately, incompletely), unvollkommen (abortive, imperfect, incomplete, incompletely). (various references) | |
Korean | 불완 하게 (Defectively, incompletely). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | imperfectlyay.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "imperfectly" (pronounced i'mper"fiktlē) |
| 4 | -k t l ē | correctly, directly, distinctly, exactly, incorrectly, indirectly, perfectly, strictly, succinctly. |
| 3 | -t l ē | abruptly, absolutely, abundantly, accidently, accurately, acutely, adamantly, adequately, adroitly, affectionately, alternately, apparently, appropriately, approximately, aptly, ardently, arrogantly, astutely, blatantly, bluntly, brightly, brilliantly, coherently, commensurately, compassionately, competently, complacently, completely, concomitantly, concretely, concurrently, confidently, consequently, consistently, constantly, conveniently, costly, courtly, covertly, currently, curtly, decently, defiantly, definitely, deftly, deliberately, delicately, desperately, devoutly, differently, difficultly, diligently, discreetly, dishonestly, dispassionately, disproportionately, earnestly, efficiently, elaborately, elegantly, eloquently, eminently, evidently, excellently, expertly, explicitly, exquisitely, extravagantly, exultantly, faintly, fervently, firstly, flagrantly, flamboyantly, flatly, fluently, forthrightly, fortnightly, fortunately, fraudulently, frequently, gently, ghastly, ghostly, greatly, hesitantly, honestly, hotly, illicitly, immaculately, immediately, imminently, impatiently, implicitly, importantly, imprudently, inaccurately, inadequately, inadvertently, inappropriately, incessantly, incoherently, incompetently, indefinitely, independently, indignantly, indiscriminately, inefficiently, ineptly, infinitely, infrequently, inherently, innately, innocently, inordinately, insistently, instantly, insufficiently, intelligently, intently, intermittently, intimately, intricately, jointly, justly, knightly, lastly, lately, legitimately, leniently, lightly, magnificently, manifestly, militantly, minutely, moderately, modestly, mostly, motley, neatly, negligently, nightly, nonchalantly, obediently, overtly, partly, passionately, patently, patiently, permanently, persistently, pleasantly, poignantly, politely, portly, predominantly, presently, priestly, privately, prominently, promptly, proportionately, prudently, pungently, quaintly, quietly, raptly, recently, reluctantly, remotely, resolutely, reverently, rightly, robustly, saintly, secretly, separately, shortly, significantly, silently, slightly, smartly, softly, sprightly, stately, steadfastly, stoutly, stridently, stringently, subsequently, sufficiently, sweetly, swiftly, tacitly, tightly, transparently, triumphantly, ultimately, unfortunately, unjustly, unpleasantly, unsightly, urgently, valiantly, vastly, vehemently, violently, virulently, Whitely. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-e-f-i-l-m-p-r-t-y" | |
-2 letters: electrify, imperfect, perfectly. | |
-3 letters: celerity, creepily, fiercely. | |
-4 letters: certify, crimple, emptier, emptily, erectly, fertile, flytier, metrify, perfect, perlite, petrify, peytrel, prefect, prefile, prelect, prelife, primely, pyretic, receipt, rectify, reflect, reptile, reticle, tiercel, yperite. | |
-5 letters: ceiler, celery, cerite, cermet, clypei, creepy, crepey, crimpy, ectype, eerily, elmier, emetic, empery, empire, epimer, ferity, ferlie, fierce, filmer, filter, firmly, fleecy, flirty, freely, lefter, liefer, lifter, limper, limpet, meetly, melter, merely, metier, metric, milter, mycele, myrtle, pelite, pelmet, pelter, peltry, permit, pertly, petrel, piecer, pierce, pilfer, prelim, premie, pricey, primly, pyemic, pyrite, recept, recipe, recite, reemit, refect, refelt, refile, refilm, reflet, relict, relief, remelt, retile, retime, retype, rifely, rimple, ripely, telfer, temper, temple, tepefy, tercel, termly, tierce, timely, trifle, trimly, triple, triply, typier, yclept, yelper. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)49 6D 70 65 72 66 65 63 74 6C 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).. -- .--. . .-. ..-. . -.-. - .-.. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001001 01101101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01100110 01100101 01100011 01110100 01101100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)I m p e r f e c t l y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0049 006D 0070 0065 0072 0066 0065 0063 0074 006C 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4379827184727169867891 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
