Puutteellista

Puutteellista is the partitive singular form of the Finnish adjective puutteellinen, meaning incomplete or deficient. It is used to describe something that lacks essential parts, qualities, or adequate completeness, such as information, data, or evidence.

The adjective puutteellinen derives from puute, meaning deficiency, with the typical Finnish suffix -ellinen used to form adjectives. In Finnish, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in number and case, so puutteellinen changes to puutteellista in the partitive singular, puutteellisia in the partitive plural, and so on. The form puutteellista is therefore a grammatical case ending rather than a standalone lexical item.

Usage and examples:

- Puutteellista tietoa on vaikea luottaa päätöksenteossa. (There is incomplete information that is difficult to rely on in decision-making.)

- Tutkimusraportti sisälsi puutteellista dataa. (The study report contained deficient data.)

- Puutteellisia selityksiä ei tulisi hyväksyä. (Incomplete explanations should not be accepted.)

Context and nuance:

Puutteellista is commonly used in academic, journalistic, and teknical contexts to flag gaps, missing components, or insufficient thoroughness. It is a neutral or slightly critical term, depending on context, and is often contrasted with täydellistä or riittävää, meaning complete or adequate.

See also:

- Puutteellinen (the base adjective)

- Vajaa, epätäydellinen (related synonyms)

- Täydellinen (antonym)