conforming absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type: a perfect sphere; a perfect gentleman.
excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement: There is no perfect legal code. The proportions of this temple are almost perfect.
exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose: a perfect actor to play Mr. Micawber; a perfect saw for cutting out keyholes.
entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings: a perfect apple; the perfect crime.
accurate, exact, or correct in every detail: a perfect copy.
thorough; complete; utter: perfect strangers.
pure or unmixed: perfect yellow.
unqualified; absolute: He has perfect control over his followers.
expert; accomplished; proficient: She will need a perfect driving teacher.
unmitigated; out-and-out; of an extreme degree: He made a perfect fool of himself.
Botany.
having all parts or members present.
monoclinous.
Grammar.
noting an action or state brought to a close prior to some temporal point of reference, in contrast to imperfect or incomplete action.
designating a tense or other verb formation or construction with such meaning.
Music.
of or noting the consonances of unison, octave, and fifth, as distinguished from those of the third and sixth. Compare imperfect (def. 6).
of or noting the intervals, harmonic or melodic, of an octave, fifth, and fourth in their normal form, as opposed to augmented and diminished.
Mathematics. (of a set) equal to its set of accumulation points.
Obsolete. assured or certain.
nounGrammar.
the perfect tense.
a verb form or construction in the perfect tense.Compare future perfect, pluperfect, present perfect.
verb (used with object)
to bring to completion; finish.
to bring to perfection; make flawless or faultless: He has succeeded in perfecting his recipe for chicken Kiev.
to bring nearer to perfection; improve; make better: She works hard to perfect her writing.
to make fully skilled.
Printing. to print the reverse of (a printed sheet).
Origin of perfect
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Latin perfectus, past participle of perficere “to finish, bring to completion” (per-per- + -fec-, combining form of facere “to make, do” (see do1) + -tus past participle suffix); replacing Middle English parfit, from Old French, from Latin as above
SYNONYMS FOR perfect
4 unblemished; faultless.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR perfect ON THESAURUS.COM
synonym study for perfect
1, 2. See complete.
usage note for perfect
A few usage guides still object to the use of comparison words such as more, most, nearly, almost, and rather with perfect on the grounds that perfect describes an absolute, yes-or-no condition that cannot logically be said to exist in varying degrees. The English language has never agreed to this limitation. Since its earliest use in the 13th century, perfect has, like almost all adjectives, been compared, first in the now obsolete forms perfecter and perfectest, and more recently with more, most, and similar comparison words: the most perfect arrangement of color and line imaginable.Perfect is compared in most of its general senses in all varieties of speech and writing. After all, one of the objectives of the writers of the U.S. Constitution was “to form a more perfect union.” See also complete, unique.
However, many other hospitals in other parts of Virginia, including the 11 Sentara hospital group hospitals, received perfect 100 percent scores, the report shows.
HRC examines hospital policies, impact of COVID on LGBTQ people|Lou Chibbaro Jr.|September 16, 2020|Washington Blade
Seven years after its founding, Snowflake had perfected an amazing new way to run databases on cloud servers, but it was struggling to attract enough big corporate customers.
Meet Snowflake, one of the buzziest tech IPOs ever|Aaron Pressman|September 15, 2020|Fortune
So, having that public accountability, about what they think — and no one’s gonna be perfect on it — helps a lot.
What if Your Company Had No Rules? (Bonus Episode)|Maria Konnikova|September 12, 2020|Freakonomics
Oddly enough, it’s a perfect time to offer this, and I think it answers a demand, which is beauty brands by women of color.
Kimora Lee Simmons Talks Baby Phat Beauty And Self-Care|Hope Wright|September 11, 2020|Essence.com
Big Pharma is far from perfect—for example, there may be outlier companies that have charged rapacious prices on drugs.
On COVID-19 vaccines, Big Pharma knows to just say ‘no’|matthewheimer|September 11, 2020|Fortune
Estee Lauder has not crumbled to dust because the perfect brown face of Joan Smalls represents it.
One Vogue Cover Doesn’t Solve Fashion’s Big Race Problem|Danielle Belton|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The Perfect Storm writer talks combat brotherhood and the threat posed by growing wealth inequality.
Sebastian Junger on War, Loss, and a Divided America|The Daily Beast Video|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
So perfect that we wonder if we should risk ruining it by asking for yet another take.
‘The Comeback’ Finale: Give Lisa Kudrow All of the Awards|Kevin Fallon|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Oscar-winning actress put nude photo thieves in their place with one perfect statement.
Jennifer Lawrence’s Righteous Fury Says Everything We Wanted to Say|Kevin O’Keeffe|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was also the most shocking revelation of 2014: Beyoncé Knowles is not perfect.
Butts, Brawls, and Bill Cosby: The Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2014 |Kevin Fallon|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the second part, he discusses traditionalism; and here again we find ourselves in perfect agreement with all his positions.
Catholic World, Vol. XI, April 1870-September 1870|Various
It was a perfect lagoon island, consisting of a circle of land of a light clay colour, the lagoon of a beautiful blue tint.
The Cruise of the Dainty|William H. G. Kingston
The most perfect arrangement can be obtained by getting a watchmaker to drill a fine hole through a piece of sheet metal.
Photographic Amusements, Ninth Edition|Walter E. Woodbury and Frank R. Fraprie
He was a perfect mountain of a fellow, six and a half feet if he was an inch, with shoulders on him like a shorthorn bull.
Greenmantle|John Buchan
The production of a kind of poetry is perfect when the form peculiar to its kind has been used in the best way.
The Aesthetical Essays|Friedrich Schiller
British Dictionary definitions for perfect
perfect
adjective (ˈpɜːfɪkt)
having all essential elements
unblemished; faultlessa perfect gemstone
correct or preciseperfect timing
utter or absolutea perfect stranger
excellent in all respectsa perfect day
mathsexactly divisible into equal integral or polynomial roots36 is a perfect square
botany
(of flowers) having functional stamens and pistils
(of plants) having all parts present
grammardenoting a tense of verbs used in describing an action that has been completed by the subject. In English this is a compound tense, formed with have or has plus the past participle
music
of or relating to the intervals of the unison, fourth, fifth, and octave
Also: full, final(of a cadence) ending on the tonic chord, giving a feeling of conclusionCompare imperfect (def. 6)
archaicpositive certain, or assured
noun (ˈpɜːfɪkt)
grammar
the perfect tense
a verb in this tense
verb (pəˈfɛkt) (tr)
to make perfect; improve to one's satisfactionhe is in Paris to perfect his French
to make fully accomplished
printingto print the reverse side of (a printed sheet of paper)
Derived forms of perfect
perfectness, noun
Word Origin for perfect
C13: from Latin perfectus, from perficere to perform, from per through + facere to do
usage for perfect
For most of its meanings, the adjective perfect describes an absolute state, i.e. one that cannot be qualified; thus something is either perfect or not perfect, and cannot be more perfect or less perfect. However when perfect means excellent in all respects, a comparative can be used with it without absurdity: the next day the weather was even more perfect