## Meanings
1. A fault or flaw that makes something imperfect or not work properly.
2. To abandon a country, group, or cause and join an opposing one.

## Examples
- The car was recalled because of a defect in the brakes.
- The spy defected to the West during the Cold War.

## Synonyms
- deficiency
- drawback
- fault
- flaw
- imperfection
- inadequacy
- peccadillo
- shortcoming
- sin

## Derived Forms
- defectible
- defection
- defectious
- defectless
- defectology
- defector
- microdefect
- nondefecting
- re-defect
- redefect
- stereodefect

## Related Forms
- defeat
- defective
- deficiency
- deficient
- deficit
- error
- flawless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *dʰeh₁-

## Etymology
Borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”).

## AI Etymology
Defect is borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”). The historical chain includes *dʰeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as defectible, defection, defectious, and defectless and related forms such as defeat, defective, and deficiency. In present use it covers a fault or flaw that makes something imperfect or not work properly and to abandon a country, group, or cause and join an opposing one.

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