unperfectlyadv.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈpəːfᵻktli/, U.S. /ˌənˈpərfək(t)li/ Imperfectly.Only in occasional use after early 18th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > imperfection > [adverb]
unperfectlya1398
imperfectlyc1400
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. viii. xxix. 513 Whanne it [sc. light] comeþ into fatte matiere, it is vnparfitliche [1495 de Worde vnperfyghtly; L. imperfecte] ifonge, and schediþ him þerinne vnparfiteliche [MS adds ifonge], and semeþ derk wiþoute.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 27 (MED) Men þat lacken her teeþ speken sumdel vnparfiȝtly.
1484 Rolls of Parl.: Richard III (Electronic ed.) Parl. Jan. 1484 §26. m. 18 The same clothes..unperfitly made and deceyvably wrought.
a1555 H. Latimer 27 Serm. (1562) ii. f. 47v We beleue vnperfectly we loue vnperfectly, we suffer vnperfectly.., & so al thinges that we do ar done imperfectly.
1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalips lxxxv. 579 Besydes this, we se here vnperfitly.
1639 R. Gentilis tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Inquisition 14 Yet was it not put to execution according to the Emperours minde, but onely unperfectly.
1673 T. Monck Cure Cankering Error New Eutychians x. 185 If there had remained but one of our sins..unperfectly punished in him.., he could not assuredly then have risen from the death.
1796 F. Ames Let. 25 July in G. Gibbs & O. Wolcott Mem. Admin. Washington & J. Adams (1846) I. 32 Virginia has been grossly deceived, and is yet unperfectly informed.
1897 L. Stephen in S. T. Coleridge Anc. Mariner p. xxxi The buoyant young poet-philosopher who had not been to Germany, was a curious compound of unperfectly fused elements.
1974 Argus (Fremont, Calif.) 16 Aug. 11 (headline) Unperfectly wonderful dogs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.a1398