different between defect vs frailty

English

Etymology

From Middle French defaicte, from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“priv.”) + facere (“to do”).

Pronunciation

• (noun) enPR: d?'f?kt, IPA^(key): /?di?f?kt/
• (verb) enPR: d?f?kt', IPA^(key): /d??f?kt/

Noun

defect (plural defects)

1. A fault or malfunction.
2. The quantity or amount by which anything falls short.
   • 1824, Lydia Sigourney, Sketch of Connecticut

     and the indefatigable application with which they have supplied the defects of early culture.

3. (mathematics) A part by which a figure or quantity is wanting or deficient.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often used with "defect": major, minor, serious, cosmetic, functional, critical, fatal, basic, fundamental, main, primary, principal, radical, inherent

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:defect

Related terms

• defective
• defeat
• deficiency
• deficient
• deficit

Translations

Verb

defect (third-person singular simple present defects, present participle defecting, simple past and past participle defected)

1. (intransitive) To abandon or turn against; to cease or change one's loyalty, especially from a military organisation or political party.
   • 2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, "British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party," New York Times (retrieved 29 May 2013):

     Capitalizing on the restive mood, Mr. Farage, the U.K. Independence Party leader, took out an advertisement in The Daily Telegraph this week inviting unhappy Tories to defect. In it Mr. Farage sniped that the Cameron government — made up disproportionately of career politicians who graduated from Eton and Oxbridge — was “run by a bunch of college kids, none of whom have ever had a proper job in their lives.”

2. (military) To desert one's army, to flee from combat.
3. (military) To join the enemy army.
4. (law) To flee one's country and seek asylum.

Derived terms

• defection
• defector

Translations

Further reading

• defect in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• defect in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin d?fectus, d?fectum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de??f?kt/
• Hyphenation: de?fect
• Rhymes: -?kt

Adjective

defect (comparative defecter, superlative defectst)

1. broken, not working

Inflection

Synonyms

• kapot

Noun

defect n (plural defecten, diminutive defectje n)

1. A defect.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French fraileté, from Latin fragilit?s. Doublet of fragility.

Noun

frailty (countable and uncountable, plural frailties)

1. (uncountable) The condition quality of being frail, physically, mentally, or morally; weakness of resolution; liability to be deceived.
   • 1748. David Hume. Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral. London: Oxford University Press, 1973. § 36, n. 1.

     the limitations and restraints of civil government, and a legal constitution, may be defended, either from reason, which reflecting on the great frailty and corruption of human nature, teaches, that no man can safely be trusted with unlimited authority ;

   Synonyms: frailness, infirmity

2. A fault proceeding from weakness; foible; sin of infirmity.

Related terms

• frail

Translations

References

• frailty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.