imperfect.

1. Having faults or falling short of a complete or ideal condition.

2. Relating to a grammatical form that presents a past situation as ongoing, habitual, or incomplete.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• imperfect knowledge
• imperfect solution

On the page

The solution was imperfect but substantially better than the alternatives.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Comparative more imperfect; superlative most imperfect when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, evaluation, qualification. Commonness: moderately common.