vajavainen

Vajavainen is a Finnish adjective meaning deficient, lacking, or incomplete. It describes something that does not meet required standards, has gaps, or shows shortcomings. The term is commonly used for information, data, plans, methods, or performances. It is less commonly used to describe people; for disability-related descriptions Finnish uses terms such as vammainen, while vajavainen remains more typical in technical or evaluative contexts.

The word belongs to the Finnish vocabulary of deficiency and is formed with the standard adjectival suffix -inen. The related noun vajavuus denotes a deficiency or shortcoming. Synonyms include puutteellinen, epätäydellinen, and riittämätön; antonyms include täydellinen or riittävä. The nuance of vajavainen tends to emphasize incompleteness or insufficiency rather than a fixed flaw.

Examples of usage include: "Tieto oli vajavainen." (The information was deficient.) "Tulos oli vajavainen." (The result was incomplete.) "Prosessi oli vajavainen." (The process was deficient.) In evaluative or technical writing, vajavainen can help qualify claims, analyses, or measurements that require additional data or revision.

See also related concepts such as vajavuus (deficiency) and puutteellinen (incomplete). The term is primarily a descriptive tool in Finnish and is not commonly used as a personal descriptor in contemporary everyday language.