How to Use imperfect in a Sentence

imperfect

1 of 2 adjective
  • He had an imperfect understanding of the task.
  • In “He was singing when I came in,” “was singing” is in the imperfect tense.
  • It's an imperfect solution to a difficult problem.
  • Say the body is imperfect and love it still.
    — Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025
  • There were imperfect parts of the trip, of course.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 26 May 2026
  • Roll out too thin of a skin or pinch an imperfect crimp and the broth will leak through.
    — Clarissa Wei, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Brush on random, imperfect strokes of crafts glue with a foam brush.
    — Emily Vanschmus, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 Nov. 2023
  • But an imperfect first law still moves the needle.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Awards are imperfect and often get it wrong.
    — Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 7 Oct. 2025
  • As the film shows it, an imperfect system.
    — Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 13 Mar. 2026
  • All of these are rhyming couplets, but in the first two the rhyme is imperfect, slant.
    — Kamran Javadizadeh, The New Yorker, 3 Feb. 2023
  • The result is still imperfect, but smarter, too.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 11 Dec. 2025
  • But that mix—awkward, stitched, imperfect—is what keeps the whole thing alive.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
  • That loop — imperfect at first, refined over years — builds skill.
    — Big Think, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Can the Jets win with imperfect star players on the top line?
    — Murat Ates, New York Times, 8 May 2026
  • But the Clash, in an imperfect way, gave race fans a reprieve.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 5 Feb. 2026
  • Give them permission to be imperfect and learn from their false starts.
    — Emily Rose, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
  • But look, the system is imperfect.
    — ABC News, 26 Oct. 2025
  • Atiedu notes that even imperfect mocktails often come out ahead.
    — Essence, 26 Jan. 2026
  • An imperfect result is better than a blank page!
    — Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2026
  • There were some imperfect moments, though.
    — Joe Kozlowski, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Sep. 2025
  • So any plan to keep the supporters of rival teams apart will be imperfect.
    — Arthur L. Kellermann, Forbes.com, 20 June 2026
  • Each step was contested, and each was imperfect.
    — Brian Castrucci, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • The toy king saw that the patent gave the Haussers an opening, albeit an imperfect one.
    — Literary Hub, 16 Dec. 2025
  • There was Reeves, of course, a perfect killer for a grimly imperfect world.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Would Cora grow more open to life’s imperfect joys, its corny pleasures?
    — Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
  • The system, while imperfect, has helped reveal the scale of the problem.
    — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Sometimes progress is imperfect, sometimes progress is pain.
    — Raven Smith, Vogue, 25 Feb. 2026
  • What happens when a man who was loved by a nation was also a deeply imperfect father?
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 19 Mar. 2026
  • The forecasts are still imperfect.
    — Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 13 May 2026

imperfect

2 of 2 noun
  • Covax is one hope for dealing with some of these problems, but an imperfect one.
    — Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2020
  • At least when the lockdowns were done by zip code, people understood that, even if imperfect.
    — CBS News, 12 Oct. 2020
  • But Belchetz, though imperfect, is a bit of a unicorn that teams will have a tough time passing up on in this range.
    — Scott Wheeler, New York Times, 7 May 2026
  • One wonders what Franklin, transported to our present imperfect union, would make of us.
    — Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2022
  • At the same time, our fallibility is steeped in the stain of sin and imperfect appetites.
    — Tod Worner, National Review, 25 Oct. 2020
  • Dream big but don’t lose the ability to enjoy imperfect pleasures.
    — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 7 Nov. 2020
  • Many office workers have seen over the past several months that, although imperfect, work-from-home can work just fine.
    — Whizy Kim, refinery29.com, 16 Sep. 2020
  • But Burhan’s imperfect English delayed this project for a number of years.
    — Morgan Meis, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2021
  • The debate is an important, if imperfect, chance to make another pitch.
    — New York Times, 16 June 2021
  • Craft beer, here and elsewhere, would be poorer without this imperfect but brilliant pioneer.
    — Peter Rowe, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2022
  • Springsteen will be an exciting, if imperfect, way to gauge the industry’s return.
    — Lee Seymour, Forbes, 7 June 2021
  • Breyer, too, said that Smith, while imperfect, attempted to answer a question that did not seem to have a good answer.
    — Nicholas Rowan, Washington Examiner, 4 Nov. 2020
  • But finance experts argue that go-it-alone taxes by states or nations are an imperfect and perhaps even harmful approach.
    — Erika Page, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 May 2021
  • In other words, scraps all gussied up in proud new packaging is well and good, but conserving imperfect edibles is a practice as old as time.
    — Maggie Lange, Bon Appétit, 27 Oct. 2021
  • But then, any novel by Lawrence, even a great one, is an imperfect, uneven, and self-sabotaging creature.
    — Frances Wilson, The New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2020
  • This introduction to the major concert circuits was an imperfect one.
    — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 10 Apr. 2022
  • Many have triggered concerns from people who use, study, or work at Twitter that the world may lose an imperfect but uniquely open online space.
    — WIRED, 28 Oct. 2022
  • So while imperfect, WalletHub’s rankings are still a good starting point for those whose jobs allow home to be anywhere.
    — New York Times, 27 Apr. 2021
  • The recent pandemic relief bill was a gift, albeit an imperfect one, from moderates in both parties.
    — Madeleine Albright, Time, 15 Jan. 2021
  • Chile is a democracy, an imperfect one, but a democracy nonetheless.
    — Daniel Alarcón, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2020
  • Some might be recycled, but recycling is an imperfect option — recyclable items still end up in landfills.
    — Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN, 15 Mar. 2022
  • In each of those cases, law enforcement agencies have been quick to paint the victims as imperfect, not to be exonerated even in death.
    — Jacqui Shine, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 June 2020
  • The treaty, though acknowledged as imperfect by the queen, formed a binding connection between the Maori people and the crown.
    — Michael E. Miller, Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2022
  • While Kaavia's bun was adorned with a bright red bow, Union's hair gave all the feels of a perfectly imperfect poshly held together messy bun.
    — Chelsea Avila, Allure, 19 Sep. 2022
  • The Underground Railroad is an imperfect take on a painful, sprawling subject.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 10 May 2021
  • Halting the Tigers' campaign is a byproduct of an imperfect system and an unsolvable scenario.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. 2020
  • Your best bet might be to make an imperfect splash, as forward-pushing Mars meets unrestrained Uranus in your friendship sector.
    — Chicago Tribune, 31 July 2022
  • There’s an idealistic strain that has some humanity and at the same time acknowledges the imperfect creation.
    — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 16 Aug. 2021
  • New York proceeded to put together an imperfect but more than sufficient effort.
    — Peter Baugh, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2025
  • The play ends with the audience deciding whether to keep the imperfect but alterable Constitution or to rip it up and start over.
    — Mark Kennedy, Star Tribune, 14 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'imperfect.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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