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# imperfect

«imperfect» in Mova's school dictionary: **Having faults or mistakes; not perfect** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (imperfect); noun (the imperfect — grammar)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Having faults or mistakes; not perfect. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#m1)

2) (grammar) The imperfect tense describes past actions that were going on or happened often, as in French and Spanish, or «I was reading» in English. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and ethics it reminds us that everyone makes mistakes: «we are all imperfect». In shops «imperfect» goods have small faults and are cheaper. In language lessons it is a past tense. Phrases: an imperfect world, imperfect but useful, the imperfect tense.

### examples

- The vase is slightly imperfect, so it was half price. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x1)
- Nobody is perfect; we are all imperfect. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x2)
- Her English is imperfect, but she speaks it bravely. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x3)
- Christians believe that God loves people even though they are imperfect. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x4)
- In French lessons we learned the imperfect tense. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x5)
- The plan was imperfect, but it worked. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/#x6)

### note

Noun: imperfection. Opposite: perfect. Prefix im- means «not» (like impossible, impatient). In grammar, «imperfect» is a tense name, not a judgement.

### In the corpora

- [Your own imperfect work is worth more than someone else's perfect work with your name on it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/340-copying-and-peeking-in-tests/23/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «imperfect» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/imperfect/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.