Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lacking nothing essential to the whole; complete of its nature or kind.
- adj. Being without defect or blemish: a perfect specimen.
- adj. Thoroughly skilled or talented in a certain field or area; proficient.
- adj. Completely suited for a particular purpose or situation: She was the perfect actress for the part.
- adj. Completely corresponding to a description, standard, or type: a perfect circle; a perfect gentleman.
- adj. Accurately reproducing an original: a perfect copy of the painting.
- adj. Complete; thorough; utter: a perfect fool.
- adj. Pure; undiluted; unmixed: perfect red.
- adj. Excellent and delightful in all respects: a perfect day.
- adj. Botany Having both stamens and pistils in the same flower; monoclinous.
- adj. Grammar Of, relating to, or constituting a verb form expressing action completed prior to a fixed point of reference in time.
- adj. Music Designating the three basic intervals of the octave, fourth, and fifth.
- n. Grammar The perfect tense.
- n. A verb or verb form in the perfect tense.
- v. To bring to perfection or completion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Brought to a consummation; fully finished; carried through to completion in every detail; finished in every part; completed.
- Full; whole; entire; complete; existing in the widest extent or highest degree.
- In botany, having both stamens and pistils; hermaphrodite: said of a flower, also of a whole plant, as opposed to monæcious, diæcious, etc.
- Without blemish or defect; lacking in nothing; of the best, highest, or most complete type; exact or unquestionable in every particular: as, a perfect likeness; one perfect but many imperfect specimens; a perfect face; specifically, complete in moral excellence; entirely good.
- Sound; of sound mind; sane.
- Completely skilled; thoroughly trained or efficient: as, perfect in discipline. Compare letter-perfect.
- Completely effective; satisfactory in every respect.
- Quite certain; assured.
- Entire; out and out; utter; very great: as, a perfect horror of serpents; a perfect shower of brickbats met them; a perfect stranger.
- In music: Of an interval, melodic or harmonic, belonging to the first and simplest group of consonances, that in which inversion does not change the character of the interval: as, a perfect unison, octave, fifth, or fourth: opposed to imperfect, diminished, augmented. These intervals are now often also called major.
- Of a chord, cadence, or period, complete; fully satisfactory. Thus, a perfect chord or triad is a triad, major or minor, in its original position; a perfect cadence is a simple authentic or plagal cadence; and a perfect period is one that is fully balanced or filled out.
- In medieval music, of rhythm, time, or measure, triple. See measure
- Synonyms Faultless, blameless, unblemished, holy.
- n. In grammar, the perfect tense. See above.
- To finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; bring to completion or perfection: as, to perfect a picture or a statue.
- To make perfect; instruct fully; make fully informed or skilled: as, to perfect one's self in the principles of architecture; to perfect soldiers in discipline.
- Synonyms To accomplish, consummate.
- In the Echinodermata, having the entire series of ambulacral plates perforated from pole to pole, that is, from base to summit of corona.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To make perfect; to improve or hone.
- v. law To take an action, usually the filing of a document in the correct venue, that secures a legal right.
- adj. Fitting its definition precisely.
- adj. Having all of its parts in harmony with a common purpose.
- adj. Thoroughly skilled or talented.
- adj. Excellent and delightful in all respects.
- adj. grammar Representing a completed action.
- adj. biology Sexually mature and fully differentiated.
- adj. botany Of flowers, having both male (stamens) and female (carpels) parts.
- adj. analysis Of a set, that it is equal to its set of limit points, i.e. set A is perfect if A=A'.
- adj. music describing an interval or any compound interval of a unison, octave, or fourths and fifths that are not tritones
- adj. Made with equal parts of sweet and dry vermouth.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Brought to consummation or completeness; completed; not defective nor redundant; having all the properties or qualities requisite to its nature and kind; without flaw, fault, or blemish; without error; mature; whole; pure; sound; right; correct.
- adj. Well informed; certain; sure.
- adj. (Bot.) Hermaphrodite; having both stamens and pistils; -- said of flower.
- n. The perfect tense, or a form in that tense.
- v. To make perfect; to finish or complete, so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to anything all that is requisite to its nature and kind.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish
- v. make perfect or complete
- n. a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)
- adj. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers
- adj. precisely accurate or exact
Etymologies
- From Middle English perfit, from Old French parfit (modern: parfait), from Latin perfectus, perfect passive participle of perficere ("to finish"), from per- ("through, thorough") + facere ("to do, to make"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English perfit, from Old French parfit, from Latin perfectus, past participle of perficere, to finish : per-, per- + facere, to do. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Noah was a just man and perfect -- Job _perfect_ and upright.”
“_Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect_.”
“Where there is perfect harmony -- _perfect_, I say -- such a dislocation could not be.”
“The perfect stem of the verb is formed in various ways, but may always be _found by dropping «-ī» from the first person singular of the perfect_, the third of the principal parts.”
“From the works of Boethius (_circa_ 400) and others, he had derived and accepted the Pythagorean division of the scale, making thirds and sixths dissonant intervals; and so his perfect chord (from which our later triad gets its name of _perfect_) was composed of a root, fifth or fourth, and octave.”
Critical and Historical Essays Lectures delivered at Columbia University
“His obedience to His Father, and His Father's love to Him, is the perfect likeness of what goes on between a good son and a good father among men; only that it is _perfect_, because it is between a perfect Father and a perfect Son.”
“I have heard teachers contend that a child will learn to write much faster by having an _inferior copy_, than by imitating one which is comparatively perfect; 'because,' say they, 'a pupil is liable to be discouraged if you give him a _perfect_ copy; but if it is only a little in advance of his own, he will take courage from the belief that he shall soon be able to equal it. ”
“Went to Lord H. 's -- party numerous -- _mi_lady in perfect good humour, and consequently _perfect_.”
“_Be you perfect, as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect_, is a plain”
“_ideally_ perfect whole is certainly that whole of which the _parts also are perfect_ -- if we can depend on logic for anything, we can depend on it for that definition.”
A Pluralistic Universe Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perfect’.
-
Beautiful and Ugly
Beautiful, attractive, well-formed
Ugly, unattractive, malformedadorable, alluring, angelic, appealing, appetizing, attractive, beaming, beauteous, beautiful, becoming, beguiling, bewitching and 180 more...
-
Minerals and Mineralogy
List of minerals, elements, group names and geochemistry terms encountered in the science of mineralogy. I've chosen to avoid capital letters in most examples, though a great many mineral names hon...
galkhaite, xanthoconite, pyrostilpnite, polybasite, pyrargyrite, djurleite, digenite, covellite, chalcocite, cerargirite, acanthite, aeschynite and 2608 more...
-
Imbible Code ✞
Christian word branding; common English word-associatives connected to Bible terminology or scripture.
I also have a general Bible-word list.god, father, son, trinity, sacrament, knowledge, serpent, flood, evil, good, spirit, revelation and 118 more...
-
You are so GOOD LOOKING!
Words about looking good
a dish, dishy, snazzy, styling, looker, handsome, beautiful, delicious, dessert, yummy, tantalizing, hormone hunk and 55 more...
-
Neoclassicism
Words to describe Neoclassicism
democracy, sober, instructing, egalitarian, rational, thinker, balance, order, organized, idealistic, serious, intellectual and 36 more...
-
Words That Sell Snake Oil
Trying to sell an overpriced e-book that will communicate the true secrets of wealth, power, or yard-care? Here are some helpful words to sprinkle in your copy.
sensational, expertise, secrets, guaranteed, success, legitimate, conclusive, amazing, smart, free, easy, automatic and 18 more...
-
Words Stephenie Meyer Overuses
A collection of words author Stephenie Meyer overuses and abuses in her 'Twilight' series of young adult vampire fiction. Every time you read one of these words in her books, you will GRIMACE and C...
chagrin, grimace, chuckle, smirk, whispered, lope, scintillating, marble, topaz, smoldering, smolder, perfect and 30 more...
-
no little thing
it bothers me when i hear someone who have experienced something life changing use the phrase: now i appreciate the little things. I DON'T BELIEVE THERE ARE ANY LITTLE THINGS. everything is EXTRAOR...
letters, living, understand, narrow, behavior, personal, need, meant, untamed, world, soldier, 'cause and 241 more...
-
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
-
Bi-sonics
Allophonic homographs. Words that are pronounced at least 2 ways, having different senses. 'august' and 'polish' are less ambiguous since capitalization make the correct pronunciation clear (at lea...
sow, row, dove, polish, precedent, rewet, lower, read, bass, patent, primer, tear and 102 more...
-
eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Descriptive
The present, the future. Goals, wishes, hopes.
capricious, sericeous, sleek, flawless, charming, skilled, long-haired, versatile, beautiful, witty, fair, thin and 145 more...
-
Apples to Apples: Green Cards
A complete list of the green cards (adjectives) from the popular word game.
absurd, addictive, adorable, aged, American, ancient, animated, annoying, appetizing, arrogant, awesome, awkward and 237 more...
-
per-
through or all over; completely; to destruction or
ill effect
Tweets
Looking for tweets for perfect.
oroboros I've used 'perfuct' for years. Very satisfying! May 28, 2011
dontcry How 'bout "perfuct" ?
I do love rolig's "Per-fuckin-fection". Gonna have to employ it at the very first opportunity. Perhaps after Mr dontcry's beer can chicken tonight... May 28, 2011
blafferty Whoops, thanks, Joel. Edited. May 22, 2011
sionnach "A luxury hotel chain needs to trademark this word immediately. "
As in:
Are you one of the power elite? Then think of the Sofitel Manhattan. Perfect for your next intimate rendezvous. May 22, 2011
joeljewitt You meant 'fan-fucking' right? May 22, 2011
blafferty Wow, pterodactyl, that's true! You can say "fan-fucking-tastic" but "marv-fucking-elous" sounds weird. May 22, 2011
rolig Foxy, that sounds like something Sylvester the Cat might say (or I am thinking of Daffy Duck?).
*wonders if Fox is brushing up on his Deutsch* May 22, 2011
sionnach Bilby beat me to my comment. Also, shouldn't that be per-pfucking-pfection? May 22, 2011
fbharjo unrite of unright unwrite?? and its (positive and negative) variations, combinations and permutations. i.e. rite of right write May 22, 2011
bilby I'm worried that people who are writing down unwritten rules are breaking an unwritten rule that unwritten rules should not be written. May 22, 2011
rolig But "Per-fuckin-fection!" might work, eh? Note the nice alliteration. May 22, 2011
pterodactyl There's an unwritten rule in English that when you insert an expletive into another word, it must precede a stressed syllable. So, for example, you can talk about "Phila-fuckin'-delphia", because "del" is a stressed syllable, but you cannot talk about "Philadel-fuckin'-phia", because "phi" is not a stressed syllable.
So "Per-fuckin'-fect" is out. I think the closest permissible equivalent is "Fuckin' perfect!", which I do hear occasionally. May 22, 2011
rolig But do people now say "Per-fuckin-fect!"?
*not sorry that I'm a little out of it* May 22, 2011
bilby On a positive note, the use of absolutely in such contexts appears to have withered. May 21, 2011
joeljewitt Anyone else notice how the word 'perfect' is taking over the world? Instead of yes, ok, thanks, or any acknowledgement of any kind, the answer is now 'perfect'. A luxury hotel chain needs to trademark this word immediately. May 21, 2011
ruzuzu For another example, see ulna. Apr 19, 2011
bilby Used in the Same Context
Time · accidental · active · aorist · beautiful · cattle · certainty Apr 13, 2011
Prolagus I think it refers to bisexual in a botanical sense, i.e. monœcious. Apr 13, 2011
bilby I can see problems. Like a gymnast coming in with a bisexual 10 on the pommel horse and then being disqualified under gender rules. Apr 12, 2011
yarb You're looking at a list of definitions, not synonyms. And yes, I can actually imagine exclaiming "Oh! Bisexual!" every time something is perfect. I think it would be funny - although I'm sure the novelty would wear off. Apr 12, 2011
mikkomikko Since when is "bisexual" a synonym for "perfect"? That listing is bizarre.
Can you imagine exclaiming "Oh! Bisexual!" every time something is perfect? Apr 12, 2011
sonofgroucho I love Alanis's lyrics. May 9, 2007
lampbane "Be a good boy
Push a little farther now
That wasn't fast enough
To make us happy
We'll love you just the way you are
if you're perfect" Jan 10, 2007