imperfectly

adverb

as in improperly

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of imperfectly It’s been about holding them in tension, sometimes brilliantly, often painfully, and always imperfectly. — Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026 Let a few tendrils fall to frame your face for an imperfectly perfect look like Salma Hayek's style. — Emily Kelleher, InStyle, 24 June 2026 Because the memory was now imperfectly stored, it would also be imperfectly retrieved. — Amanda Petrusich, New Yorker, 22 June 2026 It’s especially imperfectly timed for millennials entering their peak household spending years and beginning to form their own families (or at least try to). — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 17 June 2026 The sport that does more to restrain imbalance, however imperfectly, keeps tightening its grip on the national imagination. — Eddie Brown, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026 But the trajectory seems to be that science is learning, cautiously and imperfectly, to author life. — André O. Hudson, The Conversation, 30 Apr. 2026 The marathon showed that robots can run—imperfectly, but convincingly enough. — Ni Tao, Interesting Engineering, 20 Apr. 2026 They can be done imperfectly without being done disastrously. — Leslie John, Time, 27 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imperfectly
  1. improperly
  2. inadequately
  3. incorrectly
  4. wrongly
  5. erroneously
  6. inaccurately
  7. inappropriately
  8. insufficiently
Adverb
  • The restaurant also had to discard food like roast beef, noodles, egg whites, rice and sausage after it was found to be improperly stored in the walk-in cooler.
    — Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 13 July 2026
  • If the bill becomes law and the county challenges it, Pio Roda said county attorneys could argue that the state had improperly intruded into a local matter.
    — Kyle Martin, Mercury News, 13 July 2026
Definition of improperly
Adverb
  • Undermanned in the middle and inadequately equipped on the back end, Holland, a septuagenarian with four Stanley Cup rings, will have to earn every word of his reputation this summer.
    — Andrew Knoll, Daily News, 28 June 2026
  • As medetomidine spreads across the country, jails that are still inadequately prepared to treat opioid withdrawal alone could face an onslaught of severe cases.
    — Hannah Harris Green, STAT, 26 June 2026
Definition of inadequately
Adverb
  • Correction, July 14 The original version of this story incorrectly described Rock's place of residence.
    — Kara Nesvig, Time, 14 July 2026
  • Ordinarily, fans would presume mistaken identity would apply if the yellow card had been incorrectly shown to a player other than Paredes.
    — Stuart James, New York Times, 12 July 2026
Definition of incorrectly
Adverb
  • Robinson plays Henry, an enslaved person working on a plantation in Texas who’s wrongly accused of raping his master’s wife.
    — Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
  • And getting criticized as Pusilic has—rightly or wrongly—can add injury to injury.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes.com, 11 July 2026
Definition of wrongly
Adverb
  • If an Entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or destroyed, entrant’s sole remedy shall be another entry into the Sweepstakes.
    — AJC.com, AJC.com, 13 July 2026
  • That’s the word that NPR Editor in Chief Thomas Evans used to describe why, today, the outlet erroneously published a report by the veteran Supreme Court reporter Nina Totenberg that Justice Samuel Alito had retired.
    — Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 30 June 2026
Definition of erroneously
Adverb
  • Players, coaches, and analysts all agreed that the red card was harsh at best, and inaccurately given at worst.
    — Ian Miller OutKick, FOXNews.com, 6 July 2026
  • However, his premise inaccurately assesses blame.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 27 June 2026
Definition of inaccurately
Adverb
  • In the 2003 film, the Dan Band’s sweaty, inappropriately exuberant version of the ’80s power ballad upstages Will Ferrell’s wedding.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026
  • The governor’s office inappropriately used $421,822 meant for their own office to subsidize other agencies.
    — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 3 July 2026
Definition of inappropriately
Adverb
  • Like Alito’s paisanes, my Mexican family was also demonized for supposedly being insufficiently American and posing a threat to national unity.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
  • At times, some groups may feel overlooked or insufficiently welcomed, reminding us that inclusion is a value that must continually be expanded and reaffirmed.
    — Martin Shenkman, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
Definition of insufficiently

Browse Nearby Words

imperfections
imperfectly
imperfectness
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Cite this Entry

“Imperfectly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imperfectly. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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