DRAWBACK

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being a hindrance

Example:

he pointed out all the drawbacks to my plan

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("drawback" is a kind of...):

disadvantage (the quality of having an inferior or less favorable position)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "drawback"):

catch; gimmick (a drawback or difficulty that is not readily evident)

Credits

Context examples:

I perfectly understand your situation, however, Miss Woodhouse—(looking towards Mr. Woodhouse), Your father's state of health must be a great drawback.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

This avoids a common drawback of diabetes treatments which can overcompensate on insulin exposure and leave the patient with harmful or dangerously low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Resembling the human shape or behaviour can be both an advantage and a drawback, explains Professor Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten, Chair for Individual and Technology at RWTH Aachen University.

(Scientists identify possible source of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ in the brain, University of Cambridge)

The only drawback is that we have conclusively proved by ocular demonstration that there are no water channels down the rocks.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A number of synthetic corrosion inhibitors is available but most have the drawback that they are expensive, harmful to the environment and to human health which is why the focus on plant-based alternatives, he says.

(Mango leaf extract can stop ships from rusting, SciDev.Net)

My lady, as her friends called her, sincerely desired to be a genuine lady, and was so at heart, but had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Two thousand a year without debt or drawback—except the little love-child, indeed; aye, I had forgot her; but she may be 'prenticed out at a small cost, and then what does it signify? Delaford is a nice place, I can tell you; exactly what I call a nice old fashioned place, full of comforts and conveniences; quite shut in with great garden walls that are covered with the best fruit-trees in the country; and such a mulberry tree in one corner! Lord! how Charlotte and I did stuff the only time we were there! Then, there is a dove-cote, some delightful stew-ponds, and a very pretty canal; and every thing, in short, that one could wish for; and, moreover, it is close to the church, and only a quarter of a mile from the turnpike-road, so 'tis never dull, for if you only go and sit up in an old yew arbour behind the house, you may see all the carriages that pass along.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The only drawback is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The only drawback was the doubt of her aunt Bertram's being comfortable without her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)