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To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false or defective; to overcome; to silence.

An opinion, or judgment, formed on defective or presumptive evidence; probable inference; surmise; guess; suspicion. He [Herodotus] would thus have corrected his first loose conjecture by a real study of nature. Whewell. Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. Milton.

ver against, in order to show the differences between, or the comparative excellences and defects of; to compare by difference or contrariety of qualities; as, to contrast the present with the past.

hia, for the sole and express purpose of reserving the federal system, and correcting its defects. W. Irving.

truth, justice, or propriety; to rectify; as, to correct manners or principles. This is a defect in the first make of same men's minds which can scarce ever be corrected afterwards. T. Burnet.

istinguishable from dolus (deceit, fraud), which implies intent, culpa being imputable to defect of intellect, dolus to defect of heart. Wharton.

A person who is deaf and dumb; one who, through deprivation or defect of hearing, has either failed the acquire the power of speech, or has lost it. [See Illust. of Dactylology.] Deaf-mutes are still so called, even when, by artificial methods, they have been taught to speak imperfectly.

The state of being deficient; inadequacy; want; failure; imperfection; shortcoming; defect. "A deficiencyof blood." Arbuthnot. [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle. Deficiency of a curve (Geom.), the amount by which the number of double point…

, to make up completeness; wanting, as regards a requirement; not sufficient; inadequate; defective; imperfect; incomplete; lacking; as, deficient parts; deficient estate; deficient strength; deficient in judgment. The style was indeed deficient in ease and variety. Macaulay. Deficient number. (Arith.) See under Abunda…

Furnishing or giving two colors; -- said of defective vision, in which all the compound colors are resolvable into two elements instead of three. Sir J. Herschel.

Omission, inaccuracy, or defect in a record.

Absence or defect of symmetry; asymmetry.

A fluctuation of mind arising from defect of knowledge or evidence; uncertainty of judgment or mind; unsettled state of opinion concerning the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation. Doubt is the beginning and the end of our efforts to know. Sir W. Hamilton. Doubt, in order to be operative…

Leakage or loss of currents from the conducting wires, caused by defective insulation. Escape pipe (Steam Boilers), a pipe for carrying away steam that escapes through a safety valve. -- Escape valve (Steam Engine), a relief valve; a safety valve. See under Relief, and Safety. -- Escape wheel (Horol.), the wheel of a…

Cessation of supply, or total defect; a failing; deficiency; as, failure of rain; failure of crops.

Defect; want; lack; default. One, it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend. Shak.

Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem. Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be. Pope.

Containing faults, blemishes, or defects; imperfect; not fit for the use intended. Created once So goodly and erect, though faulty since. Milton.

A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife or a vase. This heart Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws. Shak.

Full of flaws or cracks; broken; defective; faulty. Johnson.