— incompletely , adv. — incompleteness , n.
/in'keuhm pleet"/ , adj.
1. not complete; lacking some part.
2. Football. (of a forward pass) not completed; not caught by a receiver.
3. Engin. noting a truss the panel points of which are not entirely connected so as to form a system of triangles. Cf. complete (def. 8), redundant (def. 5c).
4. Logic , Philos.
a. (of an expression or symbol) meaningful only in a specific context.
b. (of a set of axioms) such that there is at least one true proposition (able to be formulated in terms of the basic ideas of a given system) that is not deducible from the set. Cf. complete (def. 7).
n.
5. Educ. a temporary grade indicating that a student has not fulfilled one or more of the essential requirements for a course: If I don't hand in my term paper for last semester's English course, the professor is going to change my incomplete to an F.
[ 1350-1400; ME incompletus. See IN- 3 , COMPLETE ]
Syn. 1. unfinished, partial, fragmentary.