different between harmful vs defective

English

Alternative forms

• harmfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English harmful, from Old English *hearmful (suggested by hearmfull?? (“harmful; hurtful”)), equivalent to harm +? -ful.

Cognate with German harmvoll, Danish harmfuld, Swedish harmfull.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?h??mfl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?h??mfl?/

Adjective

harmful (comparative harmfuller or more harmful, superlative harmfullest or most harmful)

1. of a kind likely to be damaging; injurious

   Wear a hat to protect your skin from harmful sunlight.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "harmful" is often applied: effect, consequence, impact, influence, emission, chemical, ingredient, substance, gas, agent, additive, drug, radiation, dust, organism, plant, animal, insect, action, act, behavior, component, content, activity, interference, use.

Synonyms

• injurious; see also Thesaurus:harmful

Antonyms

• beneficial
• harmless

Translations

See also

• harm

English

Etymology

From Middle French défectif, from Late Latin defectivus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??f?kt?v/
• Rhymes: -?kt?v

Adjective

defective (comparative more defective, superlative most defective)

1. Having one or more defects.

   Synonym: faulty

   Antonyms: complete, perfect
2. (grammar, of a lexeme, especially a verb) Lacking some forms; e.g., having only one tense or being usable only in the third person.
3. (Arabic grammar, of a verb) Having a root whose final consonant is weak (?, ?, or ?).
4. (Hebrew orthography) Spelled without matres lectionis, for example ??? (ómets, “courage”) as opposed to the plene spelling ???? where the letter vav ??? indicates the vowel o.

   Antonym: plene

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.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

defective (plural defectives)

1. A person or thing considered to be defective.

See also

• Wikipedia article on defective verbs

References

Interlingua

Adjective

defective (comparative plus defective, superlative le plus defective)

1. defective (having defects)