Flaw

flaw
    n 1: an imperfection in an object or machine; "a flaw caused the
         crystal to shatter"; "if there are any defects you should
         send it back to the manufacturer" [syn: {defect}, {fault},
         {flaw}]
    2: defect or weakness in a person's character; "he had his
       flaws, but he was great nonetheless"
    3: an imperfection in a plan or theory or legal document that
       causes it to fail or that reduces its effectiveness
    v 1: add a flaw or blemish to; make imperfect or defective [syn:
         {flaw}, {blemish}]
    

Flaw \Flaw\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Flawed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Flawing}.]
   1. To crack; to make flaws in.
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            The brazen caldrons with the frosts are flawed.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. To break; to violate; to make of no effect. [Obs.]
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            France hath flawed the league.        --Shak.
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Flaw \Flaw\ (fl[add]), n. [OE. flai, flaw flake; cf. Sw. flaga
   flaw, crack, breach, flake, D. vlaag gust of wind, Norw.
   flage, flaag, and E. flag a flat stone.]
   1. A crack or breach; a gap or fissure; a defect of
      continuity or cohesion; as, a flaw in a knife or a vase.
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            This heart
            Shall break into a hundered thousand flaws. --Shak.
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   2. A defect; a fault; as, a flaw in reputation; a flaw in a
      will, in a deed, or in a statute.
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            Has not this also its flaws and its dark side?
                                                  --South.
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   3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a
      quarrel. [Obs.]
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            And deluges of armies from the town
            Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw. --Dryden.
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   4. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
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            Snow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw. --Milton.
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            Like flaws in summer laying lusty corn. --Tennyson.

   Syn: Blemish; fault; imperfection; spot; speck.
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217 Moby Thesaurus words for "flaw":
      aberrancy, aberration, abysm, abyss, arroyo, bad habit,
      besetting sin, birthmark, black mark, blackhead, blast, bleb,
      blemish, blister, blot, blow, box canyon, breach, break, bug,
      bulla, canyon, catch, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink,
      chip, cicatrix, cicatrize, cleavage, cleft, cleuch, clough, col,
      comedo, coulee, couloir, crack, cranny, crater, craze, crevasse,
      crevice, cut, cwm, damage, deface, defacement, defect, defection,
      defectiveness, deficiency, defile, deform, deformation, deformity,
      dell, delusion, deviancy, dike, discredit, disfiguration,
      disfigure, disfigurement, distort, distortion, ditch, donga, draw,
      drawback, errancy, erroneousness, error, excavation, failing,
      failure, fallaciousness, fallacy, falseness, falsity, fault,
      faultiness, faute, fissure, flawedness, flume, flurry, foible,
      fracture, frailty, freckle, furrow, gap, gape, gash, gorge, groove,
      gulch, gulf, gully, gust, hamartia, harm, hemangioma, heresy,
      heterodoxy, hickey, hole, hurt, illusion, imperfection, inadequacy,
      incision, infirmity, joint, keloid, kink, kloof, leak, lentigo,
      little problem, loophole, mar, mark, milium, misapplication,
      misconstruction, misdoing, misfeasance, misinterpretation,
      misjudgment, mistake, moat, mole, moral flaw, needle scar, nevus,
      notch, nullah, opening, pass, passage, peccancy, perforation,
      perversion, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark,
      port-wine stain, problem, puncture, pustule, ravine, rent, rift,
      rime, rip, ruin, rupture, scab, scar, scarify, scissure, scratch,
      scud, seam, sebaceous cyst, self-contradiction, shortcoming, sin,
      sinfulness, slit, slot, snag, something missing, split, spoil,
      stain, stigmatize, strawberry mark, sty, taint, tear, track,
      trench, twist, unorthodoxy, untrueness, untruth, untruthfulness,
      valley, verruca, vesicle, vice, void, vulnerable place, wadi, wale,
      warp, wart, weak link, weak point, weak side, weaken, weakness,
      weal, welt, wen, whitehead, wind gust, wrong, wrongness