English → Latin
“defective” in Latin
mancusmaimed, crippled, handicapped, infirm; defective, imperfectimperfectusunfinished, incomplete; imperfect; imperfectvitiōsusfull of faults or defects; faulty, defective, bad, corrupt; morally faulty, wicked, depraved, vicious
The English word defective itself goes back to Latin dēfectīvus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
defective
mancus; non integer (not complete): non perfectus; imperfectus; suis numeris non absolutus (unfinished): non commodus (not good of its sort): vitiosus (blemished): it is better for a narrative to be redundant than defective, satius est, aliquid narrationi superesse, quam deesse: The grammatical term defective is defectivus (e.g., a defective verb, verbum defectivum).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for defective?
- The usual Latin words for “defective” are mancus, imperfectus, vitiōsus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.