1. A physical disfigurement or small physical problem; such as, a crack that prevents something from being totally perfect and detracts from its value: There was a flaw in the new wooden chair that required repairing before it could be used.
2. A feature that is regarded as unfavorable: Earlier flaws regarding the euro were resurfacing as France and Germany were proposing deeper integration for a single currency in a time of a ferocious debt crisis.
3. In a legal document, an error which can make it invalid: There are several flaws in the evidence that has been presented by the prosecutor.
4. Etymology: from Old Norse flaga, "stone slab, flake, split stone"; with the sense of "defect, fault" was first recorded in the 1580's, first about character, then later referring to material things; probably with the idea of a "fragment" that has broken off.