Flaw

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈflɔː/
• US IPA: /ˈflÉ”/
• cot-caught IPA: /ˈflÉ‘/
• Rhymes: -ɔː

From Middle English flawe, flay ("a flake of fire or snow, spark, splinter"), probably from Old Norse flaga ("a flag or slab of stone, flake"), from Proto-Germanic *flagō ("a layer of soil"), from Proto-Indo-European *plāk- ("broad, flat"). Cognate with Icelandic flaga ("flake"), Swedish flaga ("flake, scale"), Danish flage ("flake"), Middle Low German vlage ("a layer of soil"), Old English flōh ("a frament, piece").

Full definition of flaw

Noun

1. (obsolete) A flake, fragment, or shiver.
2. (obsolete) A thin cake, as of ice.
3. A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.There is a flaw in that knife.That vase has a flaw.
• ShakespeareThis heart
  Shall break into a hundred thousand flaws.
4. A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.
• SouthHas not this also its flaws and its dark side?
5. A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid.a flaw in a will, in a deed, or in a statute

Synonyms

Derived terms

• tragic flaw

Verb

1. (transitive) To add a flaw to, to make imperfect or defective.
2. (intransitive) To become imperfect or defective.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈflɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː

Noun

1. A sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration.
• MiltonSnow, and hail, and stormy gust and flaw.
• TennysonLike flaws in summer laying lusty corn.
2. A storm of short duration.
3. A sudden burst of noise and disorder; a tumult; uproar; a quarrel.
• DrydenAnd deluges of armies from the town
  Came pouring in; I heard the mighty flaw.

Anagrams

• WAFL