as in imperfect
capable of making mistakes or being wrong
She was a perfectionist who failed to realize that humans are inherently fallible.
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Recent Examples of fallible
Every person and system is fallible, but there’s no substitute for instinct and street smarts — can a robot achieve that kind of intelligence?
—
Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 22 Jan. 2026
Calculators beat us at arithmetic long before AI, and chess engines made grandmasters look fallible decades ago.
—Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Infallible machines turn out to be fallible.
—Cory Franklin, Twin Cities, 23 Nov. 2025
Your throat and tongue and ears, and of course language itself, are of the physical world—unpredictable, fallible, and beautiful for it.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fallible
Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 22 Jan. 2026
Calculators beat us at arithmetic long before AI, and chess engines made grandmasters look fallible decades ago.
—Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Infallible machines turn out to be fallible.
—Cory Franklin, Twin Cities, 23 Nov. 2025
Your throat and tongue and ears, and of course language itself, are of the physical world—unpredictable, fallible, and beautiful for it.
—Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 16 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for fallible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fallible
Adjective
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Both were imperfect solutions to an unavoidable problem.—
Paul Taylor,
New York Times,
7 Feb. 2026
-
Financial institutions extend credit to borrowers with limited or imperfect credit histories precisely because higher rates help offset the risk of default.—
Julio Fuentes,
The Orlando Sentinel,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Thus, as a vision of our transportation system in 2050, this plan is flawed due to placing too much emphasis on freeway expansion and insufficient resources on public transit.—
Chris Roberts,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Feb. 2026
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Then their postseason schedule road was made easier by facing three flawed offensive units.—
Hank Gola,
New York Daily News,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Todorovich is focusing on enterprise-wide business models but is not placing buys or negotiating return to vendors involving returning defective, damaged or unsold merchandise back to the supplier or manufacturer.—
David Moin,
Footwear News,
23 Jan. 2026
-
The partnership unraveled in 2007 over what MacNeil alleged were defective mats.—
Monica Hunter-Hart,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fallible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fallible. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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