Talk:defective

Usage note: defective vs deficient

Defective is normally used in reference to processes, machines, or to other functional things such as the human senses:

If the workmanship is defective, they'll replace the shoes with a new pair.

Artillery officers sometimes have defective hearing. 

Deficient is used to describe things that lack a quality, element, or ingredient, without this amounting to actual failure to work or function:

Her voice is beautiful but a little deficient in power.

Their diet is deficient in vitamin D.

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 JMGN (talk) 11:23, 15 August 2023 (UTC)