as in improperly
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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
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
Adverb
-
The trial court risked prejudicing the jury by improperly admitting evidence about Mead Johnson’s finances, including its revenues, profits, and executive compensation, the appeals court said.
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Miami Beach was sued in December by a developer who claims the city improperly rejected a Live Local project.
Adverb
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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.
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As medetomidine spreads across the country, jails that are still inadequately prepared to treat opioid withdrawal alone could face an onslaught of severe cases.
Adverb
-
An earlier version of this story incorrectly described ongoing changes at Nashville international Airport.
-
Kennedy said at a House hearing that month that the Biden administration had incorrectly flagged the peptides as posing safety risks.
Adverb
-
Historically, Black and brown students are more often wrongly identified as needing special education than their peers.
-
Based on Harper Lee's seminal novel, the movie casts Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch, who in Depression-era Alabama defends a Black man wrongly accused of raping a young white woman.
Adverb
-
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.
-
Verstappen's crash at the final pair of corners brought out yellow flags, which Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli erroneously thought were double-waved yellow flags and aborted his lap.
Adverb
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However, his premise inaccurately assesses blame.
-
An earlier version of this story inaccurately reported Brenda Bergeron as the deputy commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Homeland Protection’s Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Adverb
-
Vought’s moves also raise the risk of corruption and outside groups inappropriately influencing funding decisions.
-
By contrast, the three male actors who appear in major supporting roles—along with Colin, there’s Lindon as the doctor and Louis Garrel as Maxine’s cinematographer and, ultimately, lover—are all veterans whose iconic presences make their small roles feel unusually, even inappropriately, prominent.
Adverb
-
Like Alito’s paisanes, my Mexican family was also demonized for supposedly being insufficiently American and posing a threat to national unity.
-
At times, some groups may feel overlooked or insufficiently welcomed, reminding us that inclusion is a value that must continually be expanded and reaffirmed.
Cite this Entry
“Imperfectly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imperfectly. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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