Less than perfect (meaning)
I would like to know the meaning of the expression "less than perfect". I wonder if one of the following meanings is correct: "not perfect at all", "not good at all", "not very good", "almost perfect", "not as good as expected".

I have some examples:
1. Her greeting was less than enthusiastic.
2. Her advice has frequently been less than wholly helpful
3. Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day less than perfect, go and talk to them.
4. My behavior was less than perfect.
5. But Cristina was about to discover a situation that was less than perfect.

Question

Less than perfect (meaning)
I would like to know the meaning of the expression "less than perfect". I wonder if one of the following meanings is correct: "not perfect at all", "not good at all", "not very good", "almost perfect", "not as good as expected".

I have some examples:
1. Her greeting was less than enthusiastic.
2. Her advice has frequently been less than wholly helpful
3. Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day less than perfect, go and talk to them.
4. My behavior was less than perfect.
5. But Cristina was about to discover a situation that was less than perfect.

Answer

Your understanding of it was good. I would say, for the most part when we say someone is "less than perfect" it's a bit more negative, like a passive way of giving someone criticism. In your example "my behavior was less than perfect" it's saying that your behavior was not that good, that you behaved poorly. The other examples, while they make sense, we wouldn't use the phrase "less than.." in that way.

Answer

Cameron, thanks for your answer. I think that it is the one that helped the most.

Answer

Tangestone, thanks for your contribution to this topic.

Answer

Great question.

"Less than X" is a colloquial way of saying "not very X" or "not at ALL X."

Examples: I was less than enthused about driving my drunk boss home at 2:00AM. (I was not at ALL happy.)

Her pronunciation is less than perfect, but it's still very easy to understand. (Her pronunciation is really good, but you can still tell she's not a native speaker.)

Answer

Less than perfect is talking about something that does not have a specific quality. So in regards to that quality it is not perfect at all.

So another way to say your examples:
1. Her greeting was unenthusiastic.
2. Her advice has frequently been unhelpful.
3. Enjoy your day to its fullest. If anybody in the office makes your day unenjoyable, go and talk to them.
4. My behavior was unacceptable. (Depends on the situation. Needs more context to be changed.)
5. But Cristina was about to discover a situation that was not that great. (Depends on situation. Needs more context to be changed.)