flaw

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English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English flawe, flay (a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter), probably from Old Norse flaga (a flag or slab of stone, flake), from Proto-Germanic *flagō (a layer of soil), from Proto-Indo-European *plok- (broad, flat).

Cognate with Icelandic flaga (flake), Swedish flaga (flake, scale), Danish flage (flake), Middle Low German vlage (a layer of soil), Old English flōh (a fragment, piece).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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flaw (plural flaws)

  1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
  2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
  3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.
    There is a flaw in that knife.
    That vase has a flaw.
  4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
      Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
    1. (in particular) An inclusion, stain, or other defect of a diamond or other gemstone.
    2. (law) A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid or ineffective.
      a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute
Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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flaw (third-person singular simple present flaws, present participle flawing, simple past and past participle flawed)

  1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
  2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective; to crack or break.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English *flaugh, from Middle Dutch vlāghe or Middle Low German vlāge, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flagā.[1] Or, possibly of North Germanic origin, from Swedish flaga (gust of wind), from Old Norse flaga;[2] all from Proto-Germanic *flagǭ (blow, strike). See modern Dutch vlaag (gust of wind).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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flaw (plural flaws)

  1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration; windflaw.
  2. A storm of short duration.
  3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder
    Synonyms: tumult, uproar, quarrel
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading

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flaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

References

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  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  2. ^ flaw”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

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Sranan Tongo

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Verb

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flaw

  1. To faint.