defect

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A fault or flaw that makes something imperfect or not work properly.

   The car was recalled because of a defect in the brakes.

2. 2
   verb

   To abandon a country, group, or cause and join an opposing one.

   The spy defected to the West during the Cold War.

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”).

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