Note 94 – Deficient and defective

Deficient and defective are both adjectives with very different meanings.  Their definitions are below:

Deficient

Cambridge Dictionaries Online www.dictionary.cambridge.org defines deficient as:

• “Not having enough of”
• “Not good enough”

 The Pocket Writer’s Handbook by Martin Mander & Stephen Curtis defines deficient as:

• “Lacking”
• “Inadequate”

 When used in a sentence:

• The doctor said that Sally is deficient in vitamin D

Defective

Cambridge Dictionaries Online www.dictionary.cambridge.org defines defective as:

• “Describes something that has a fault in it and does not work correctly”

 The Pocket Writer’s Handbook describes defective as being:

• “applied to functioning things that fail to function properly”

When used in a sentence:

• Due to a defective train, I arrived home at 9pm

Hope you have enjoyed reading this.  I blog daily so please don’t forget to come back tomorrow to learn more.  

Until tomorrow…

Sandra

This blog: https://mywritingnotebook.wordpress.com

My other blog: http://sandramadeira.wordpress.com

My website: www.tipsandluxuries.com (includes the introduction to my book ‘A Gift for Stressed and Busy Parents’)

Twitter: @madeirasandra and @tipsandluxuries

Reference list:

The Pocket Writer’s Handbook by Martin Mander & Stephen Curtis (Penguin Reference Library)

Cambridge Dictionaries Online www.dictionary.cambridge.org