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flaw. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology 1
From Middle English flawe, flay (“a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter”), probably from Old Norse flaga (“a flag or slab of stone, flake”), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (“a layer of soil”), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (“broad, flat”).
Cognate with Icelandic flaga (“flake”), Swedish flaga (“flake, scale”), Danish flage (“flake”), Middle Low German vlage (“a layer of soil”), Old English flōh (“a fragment, piece”).
Pronunciation
Noun
flaw (plural flaws)
- (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
- (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
- A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
There is a flaw in that knife.
That vase has a flaw.
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :This heart / Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.
- A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
- (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
- (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.
a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
crack or breach
- Bulgarian: пукнатина (bg) f (puknatina), цепнатина (bg) f (cepnatina)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 疵 (zh) (cī)
- Danish: defekt (da) c, fejl (da) c, skønshedsfejl c (minor)
- Estonian: mõra
- Finnish: rako (fi)
- French: défaut (fr) m, fissure (fr) f
- Galician: fenda f, brecha f
- German: Sprung (de) m, Riss (de) m, Absplitterung f (chipping), Schaden (de) m
- Hungarian: repedés (hu)
- Italian: fessura (it) f, cricca (it) f, crepa (it) f
- Japanese: ひび (ja) (hibi)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, skavank (no) m
- Occitan: deca (oc) f, brèca (oc) f, bèrca (oc) f
- Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m
- Romanian: spărtură (ro) f, fisură (ro) f, încălcare (ro) f
- Russian: тре́щина (ru) f (tréščina), щель (ru) f (ščelʹ), поро́к (ru) m (porók)
- Slovak: prasklina f, škára f
- Spanish: falla (es)
- Swedish: spricka (sv), skavank (sv)
- Turkish: çatlak (tr), çizik (tr)
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defect, fault
- Arabic: عَيْبٌ (ʕaybun)
- Armenian: արատ (hy) (arat)
- Azerbaijani: qüsur (az), nöqsan (az), kəsir, naqislik
- Bulgarian: недостатък (bg) m (nedostatǎk), дефект (bg) m (defekt)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 瑕疵 (zh) (xiácī), 毛病 (zh) (máobìng)
- Crimean Tatar: brak
- Czech: vada (cs)
- Danish: defekt (da) c, fejl (da) c
- Esperanto: difekto, manko
- Estonian: viga, puudus
- Finnish: virhe (fi), vika (fi)
- French: faille (fr) f
- Galician: eiva (gl) f, falla f
- German: Makel (de) m, Fehler (de) m, Macke (de) f (slang), Schwachstelle (de) f (in an idea), Schlupfloch (de) n (in law or contract)
- Greek:
- Ancient Greek: ψόγος m (psógos)
- Hungarian: hiba (hu), hiányosság (hu)
- Irish: fabht m, locht m
- Italian: difetto (it) m, errore (it) m, imperfezione (it) f
- Japanese: 欠点 (ja) (kekkan), 瑕疵 (ja) (kashi)
- Korean: 결점 (ko) (gyeoljeom)
- Latin: vitium n
- Macedonian: мана f (mana), фалинка f (falinka)
- Maori: tōrōkiri
- Middle English: chalenge
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: feil (no) m, brist m, brist m
- Occitan: manca (oc) f, deca (oc) f, sin (oc) m, peca f, defaut (oc) m, taca (oc) f
- Polish: wada (pl) f
- Portuguese: falha (pt) f, defeito (pt) m, erro (pt) m
- Romanian: cusur (ro) n, defect (ro) n, hibă (ro) f
- Russian: изъя́н (ru) m (izʺján), недоста́ток (ru) m (nedostátok), поро́к (ru) m (porók), брак (ru) m (brak), дефе́кт (ru) m (defékt)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: мана f
- Roman: mana (sh) f
- Slovak: vada f, závada f, chyba f
- Slovene: napaka (sl), pomanjkljivost, razpoka (sl)
- Spanish: imperfección (es), desperfecto (es), pega (es) f
- Swedish: fel (sv), brist (sv)
- Turkish: hata (tr), kusur (tr)
- Ukrainian: вада (uk) (vada)
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Verb
flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)
- (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
- (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā. Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (“gust of wind”), from Old Norse flaga; all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (“blow, strike”). See modern Dutch vlaag (“gust of wind”).
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
flaw (plural flaws)
- A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
- A storm of short duration.
- A sudden burst of noise and disorder
- Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel
Translations
Translations to be checked
Further reading
“flaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
References
Anagrams
Sranan Tongo
Verb
flaw
- To faint.