How to Use imperfect in a Sentence

imperfect

1 of 2 adjective
Definition of imperfectnext
Synonyms for imperfectnext
  • He had an imperfect understanding of the task.
  • In “He was singing when I came in,” “was singing” is in the imperfect tense.
  • It's an imperfect solution to a difficult problem.
  • Roll out too thin of a skin or pinch an imperfect crimp and the broth will leak through.
    — Clarissa Wei, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
  • All of these are rhyming couplets, but in the first two the rhyme is imperfect, slant.
    — Kamran Javadizadeh, The New Yorker, 3 Feb. 2023
  • That sequence of events may be an imperfect guide to the Treasury bond market of the 2020s.
    — Talmon Joseph Smith, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2023
  • Brush on random, imperfect strokes of crafts glue with a foam brush.
    — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Nov. 2023
  • There was Reeves, of course, a perfect killer for a grimly imperfect world.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Give them permission to be imperfect and learn from their false starts.
    — Emily Rose, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
  • And the timing, as us agents of chaos in the writers room construct, is just perfectly imperfect.
    — Selome Hailu, Variety, 15 Dec. 2022
  • Such implants designed on Earth are imperfect due to the tug of gravity, Ondler says.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Mar. 2023
  • There’s a lot that’s imperfect about our justice system, God knows.
    — Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 20 Mar. 2023
  • But will doctors cede control to imperfect machines to get a few minutes of their lives back?
    — Alex Knapp, Forbes, 3 May 2023
  • Now, though, Dorsey appears to believe Musk was an imperfect choice.
    — Brian Fung, CNN, 1 May 2023
  • That creates that little bit of caramelization on the top with little imperfect points.
    — Caron Golden, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2023
  • These imperfect future parents want a baby more than anything in the world.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Mar. 2024
  • Models barely wore makeup, if any at all, and hair was left imperfect and tousled; some were given waves down to the smalls of their backs.
    — Kevin Leblanc, ELLE, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Sure, the Rangers — on the heels of a six-game winning streak with plenty of momentum after a four-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays — remain imperfect.
    — Shawn McFarland, Dallas News, 16 Sep. 2023
  • Keep it casual with unmeasured berry twigs (some long, some short) and a loose, imperfect red bow.
    — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Oct. 2023
  • But Biden has always favored talks, however imperfect, in a tradition that dates back to the origins of the Cold War.
    — Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 19 Nov. 2023
  • Would the people vote up or down on an aspirational but imperfect deal?
    — Amanda Ferguson, Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2023
  • See, the actress who once played the rather imperfect Mary Camden on 7th Heaven isn’t trying to tell parents that the big secret is putting on makeup.
    — Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 15 Feb. 2024
  • Tarasenko was on the ice when a 4-on-4 sequence ended, and got stuck playing on an imperfect forward line next to fellow wingers Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe.
    — David Wilson, Miami Herald, 7 Mar. 2024
  • But the picture painted in the lawsuit is that of a highly imperfect manager, both of her employees and her brand.
    — Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 23 Aug. 2023
  • The form of race-conscious admissions used at Harvard and UNC was one imperfect tool to advance racial justice.
    — Dominique J. Baker, Scientific American, 7 July 2023
  • Trending That’s also a Hunger Games staple, of course, and this imperfect yet surprising prequel knows that even those who haven’t read the book(s) will want that itch scratched.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 16 Nov. 2023
  • Van Essen also cautioned that MRIs are imperfect tools and may not reliably capture the nature of the brain's wiring.
    — Aria Bendix, NBC News, 31 May 2023
  • Like all starting points, these efforts may be imperfect.
    — John Q. Young, STAT, 13 Dec. 2022
  • Certainly, imperfect against Texas but still looks like the best option after cycling the next two contenders through the real-world test.
    — Michael Casagrande | [email protected], al, 16 Sep. 2023
  • That data is messy and imperfect but better than data from other conflicts, says Spiegel.
    — Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 1 Mar. 2024
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imperfect

2 of 2 noun
  • Art books call it wabi-sabi: finding beauty in the imperfect.
    — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, SFChronicle.com, 22 Dec. 2020
  • At the same time, our fallibility is steeped in the stain of sin and imperfect appetites.
    — Tod Worner, National Review, 25 Oct. 2020
  • The combination of an imperfect shot out of that divot, and a wall of wind caused him to one-hop his next shot into the Swilcan Burn that cuts across the course.
    — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2022
  • The treaty, though acknowledged as imperfect by the queen, formed a binding connection between the Maori people and the crown.
    — Michael E. Miller, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2022
  • One wonders what Franklin, transported to our present imperfect union, would make of us.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2022
  • And the solution was always going to be an imperfect one.
    — Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2021
  • But Burhan’s imperfect English delayed this project for a number of years.
    — Morgan Meis, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2021
  • At least when the lockdowns were done by zip code, people understood that, even if imperfect.
    — CBS News, 12 Oct. 2020
  • While Kaavia's bun was adorned with a bright red bow, Union's hair gave all the feels of a perfectly imperfect poshly held together messy bun.
    — Chelsea Avila, Allure, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Empathy and time are the only (imperfect) answers to grief.
    — Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022
  • Covax is one hope for dealing with some of these problems, but an imperfect one.
    — Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2020
  • Dream big but don’t lose the ability to enjoy imperfect pleasures.
    — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 7 Nov. 2020
  • Many office workers have seen over the past several months that, although imperfect, work-from-home can work just fine.
    — Whizy Kim, refinery29.com, 16 Sep. 2020
  • Breyer, too, said that Smith, while imperfect, attempted to answer a question that did not seem to have a good answer.
    — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, 4 Nov. 2020
  • So while imperfect, WalletHub’s rankings are still a good starting point for those whose jobs allow home to be anywhere.
    — New York Times, 27 Apr. 2021
  • The play ends with the audience deciding whether to keep the imperfect but alterable Constitution or to rip it up and start over.
    — Mark Kennedy, Star Tribune, 14 Oct. 2020
  • Many have triggered concerns from people who use, study, or work at Twitter that the world may lose an imperfect but uniquely open online space.
    — WIRED, 28 Oct. 2022
  • The Underground Railroad is an imperfect take on a painful, sprawling subject.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2021
  • Your best bet might be to make an imperfect splash, as forward-pushing Mars meets unrestrained Uranus in your friendship sector.
    — Chicago Tribune, 31 July 2022
  • The debate is an important, if imperfect, chance to make another pitch.
    — New York Times, 16 June 2021
  • But then, any novel by Lawrence, even a great one, is an imperfect, uneven, and self-sabotaging creature.
    — Frances Wilson, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2020
  • Halting the Tigers' campaign is a byproduct of an imperfect system and an unsolvable scenario.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2020
  • In each of those cases, law enforcement agencies have been quick to paint the victims as imperfect, not to be exonerated even in death.
    — Jacqui Shine, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 June 2020
  • In other words, scraps all gussied up in proud new packaging is well and good, but conserving imperfect edibles is a practice as old as time.
    — Maggie Lange, Bon Appétit, 27 Oct. 2021
  • Two weeks after the park opened, the Bay Area began to shelter in place, the playground closed and the number of tents on Tenderloin sidewalks — an imperfect but telling metric of the neighborhood’s health — more than doubled.
    — Ryan Kost, SFChronicle.com, 12 July 2020
  • Springsteen will be an exciting, if imperfect, way to gauge the industry’s return.
    — Lee Seymour, Forbes, 7 June 2021
  • Williams again struggled away from home with two interceptions and several imperfect throws that stalled drives.
    — Erick Smith, USA TODAY, 13 Nov. 2021
  • Like Harper, Stewart sees the vote this November as a crucial, if imperfect, vehicle for change.
    — Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Republic, 19 Oct. 2020
  • In the people who delivered groceries, who sewed masks, who have long cursed America’s imperfect systems and long fought to change them, who still donate $10 to a sick teacher’s GoFundMe.
    — Washington Post, 31 Dec. 2020
  • Unfortunately, that kind of excitement rarely translates to the telecast, which moves under its own steam of imperfect scripting interrupted by moments of hope.
    — Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 13 Sep. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imperfect.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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