Adjacent Words

Perfect definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PER'FECT, a. [L. perfectus, perficio, to complete; per and facio, to do or make through, to carry to the end.]
1. Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as a perfect statue; a perfect likeness; a perfect work; a perfect system.
As full, as perfect in a hair as heart.
2. Fully informed; completely skilled; as men perfect in the use of arms; perfect in discipline.
3. Complete in moral excellencies.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5.
4. Manifesting perfection.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12.
Perfect chord,in music, a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the fifth and the octave; a perfect consonance.
A perfect flower, in botany, has both stamen and pistil, or at least another and stigma.
Perfect tense, in grammar, the preterit tense; a tense which expresses an act completed.
PER'FECT, v.t. [L. perfectus, perficio.] To finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to any thing all that is requisite to its nature and kind; as, to perfect a picture or statue. 2 Chronicles 8.
-Inquire into the nature and properties of things, and thereby perfect our ideas of distinct species.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4.
1. To instruct fully; to make fully skillful; as, to perfect one's self in the rules of music or architecture; to perfect soldiers in discipline.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish; "a perfect circle"; "a perfect reproduction"; "perfect happiness"; "perfect manners"; "a perfect specimen"; "a perfect day" [ant: imperfect]
2: without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers; "an arrant fool"; "a complete coward"; "a consummate fool"; "a double-dyed villain"; "gross negligence"; "a perfect idiot"; "pure folly"; "what a sodding mess"; "stark staring mad"; "a thoroughgoing villain"; "utter nonsense"; "the unadulterated truth" [syn: arrant, complete, consummate, double-dyed, everlasting, gross, perfect, pure, sodding, stark, staring, thoroughgoing, utter, unadulterated]
3: precisely accurate or exact; "perfect timing" n
1: a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect) [syn: perfective, perfective tense, perfect, perfect tense] v
1: make perfect or complete; "perfect your French in Paris!" [syn: perfect, hone]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English parfit, from Anglo-French, from Latin perfectus, from past participle of perficere to carry out, perfect, from per- thoroughly + facere to make, do — more at do Date: 14th century 1. a. being entirely without fault or defect ; flawless <a perfect diamond> b. satisfying all requirements ; accurate c. corresponding to an ideal standard or abstract concept <a perfect gentleman> d. faithfully reproducing the original; specifically letter-perfect e. legally valid 2. expert, proficient <practice makes perfect> 3. a. pure, total b. lacking in no essential detail ; complete c. obsolete sane d. absolute, unequivocal <enjoys perfect happiness> e. of an extreme kind ; unmitigated <a perfect brat> <an act of perfect foolishness> 4. obsolete mature 5. of, relating to, or constituting a verb form or verbal that expresses an action or state completed at the time of speaking or at a time spoken of 6. obsolete a. certain, sure b. contented, satisfied 7. of a musical interval belonging to the consonances unison, fourth, fifth, and octave which retain their character when inverted and when raised or lowered by a half step become augmented or diminished 8. a. sexually mature and fully differentiated <a perfect insect> b. having both stamens and pistils in the same flower <a perfect flower> • perfectness noun Synonyms: perfect, whole, entire, intact mean not lacking or faulty in any particular. perfect implies the soundness and the excellence of every part, element, or quality of a thing frequently as an unattainable or theoretical state <a perfect set of teeth>. whole suggests a completeness or perfection that can be sought, gained, or regained <felt like a whole person again after vacation>. entire implies perfection deriving from integrity, soundness, or completeness of a thing <the entire Beethoven corpus>. intact implies retention of perfection of a thing in its natural or original state <the boat survived the storm intact>. II. transitive verb Date: 14th century 1. to bring to final form 2. to make perfect ; improve, refine • perfecter noun III. noun Date: 1841 the perfect tense of a language; also a verb form in the perfect tense

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., v., & n. --adj. 1 complete; not deficient. 2 faultless (a perfect diamond). 3 very satisfactory (a perfect evening). 4 exact; precise (a perfect circle). 5 entire; unqualified (a perfect stranger). 6 Math. (of a number) equal to the sum of its divisors. 7 Gram. (of a tense) denoting a completed action or event in the past, formed in English with have or has and the past participle, as in they have eaten. 8 Mus. (of pitch) absolute. 9 Bot. a (of a flower) having all four types of whorl. b (of a fungus) in the stage where the sexual spores are formed. 10 (often foll. by in) thoroughly trained or skilled (is perfect in geometry). --v.tr. 1 make perfect; improve. 2 carry through; complete. 3 complete (a sheet) by printing the other side. --n. Gram. the perfect tense. Phrases and idioms: perfect binding a form of bookbinding in which the leaves are attached to the spine by gluing rather than sewing. perfect interval Mus. a fourth or fifth as it would occur in a major or minor scale starting on the lower note of the interval, or octave. perfect pitch = absolute pitch 1. Derivatives: perfecter n. perfectible adj. perfectibility n. perfectness n. Etymology: ME and OF parfit, perfet f. L perfectus past part. of perficere complete (as PER-, facere do)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Perfect Per"fect, a. [OE. parfit, OF. parfit, parfet, parfait, F. parfait, L. perfectus, p. p. of perficere to carry to the end, to perform, finish, perfect; per (see Per-) + facere to make, do. See Fact.] 1. 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. My strength is made perfect in weakness. --2 Cor. xii. 9. Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun. --Shak. I fear I am not in my perfect mind. --Shak. O most entire perfect sacrifice! --Keble. God made thee perfect, not immutable. --Milton. 2. Well informed; certain; sure. I am perfect that the Pannonains are now in arms. --Shak. 3. (Bot.) Hermaphrodite; having both stamens and pistils; -- said of flower. Perfect cadence (Mus.), a complete and satisfactory close in harmony, as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant. Perfect chord (Mus.), a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the unison, octave, fifth, and fourth; a perfect consonance; a common chord in its original position of keynote, third, fifth, and octave. Perfect number (Arith.), a number equal to the sum of all its divisors; as, 28, whose aliquot parts, or divisors, are 14, 7, 4, 2, 1. See Abundant number, under Abundant. --Brande & C. Perfect tense (Gram.), a tense which expresses an act or state completed.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Perfect Per"fect, n. The perfect tense, or a form in that tense.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Perfect Per"fect, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Perfected; p. pr. & vb. n. Perfecting.] [L. perfectus, p. p. of perficere. See Perfect, a.] 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. God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfect in us. --1 John iv. 12. Inquire into the nature and properties of the things, . . . and thereby perfect our ideas of their distinct species. --Locke. Perfecting press (Print.), a press in which the printing on both sides of the paper is completed in one passage through the machine. Syn: To finish; accomplish; complete; consummate.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(perfecting, perfected) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Something that is perfect is as good as it could possibly be. He spoke perfect English... Hiring a nanny has turned out to be the perfect solution... Nobody is perfect. ADJ 2. If you say that something is perfect for a particular person, thing, or activity, you are emphasizing that it is very suitable for them or for that activity. Carpet tiles are perfect for kitchens because they're easy to take up and wash... So this could be the perfect time to buy a home. = ideal ADJ: oft ADJ for n [emphasis] 3. If an object or surface is perfect, it does not have any marks on it, or does not have any lumps, hollows, or cracks in it. Use only clean, Grade A, perfect eggs. ...their perfect white teeth. ADJ 4. You can use perfect to give emphasis to the noun following it. She was a perfect fool... What he had said to her made perfect sense. = complete, total ADJ: ADJ n [emphasis] 5. If you perfect something, you improve it so that it becomes as good as it can possibly be. We perfected a hand-signal system so that he could keep me informed of hazards... VERB: V n 6. The perfect tenses of a verb are the ones used to talk about things that happened or began before a particular time, as in 'He's already left' and 'They had always liked her'. The present perfect tense is sometimes called the perfect tense. ADJ: ADJ n see also future, present perfect, past perfect

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Finished, completed. 2. Full, complete, entire, whole. 3. Complete, consummate, excellent, capital, exquisite, faultless. 4. Skilled, disciplined, accomplished, expert fully informed. 5. Pure, holy, blameless, faultless, without sin immaculate, unblemished, spotless. 6. Sound, faultless. II. v. a. 1. Finish, complete, consummate elaborate, make perfect, bring to perfection. 2. Accomplish, instruct fully, make skilful make expert, finish.

Moby Thesaurus

KO, OK, absolute, accomplish, accomplished, accurate, achieve, adept, admitting no exception, adroit, all right, all-embracing, all-encompassing, all-out, all-pervading, ameliorate, aorist, appropriate, apt, arrant, authentic, beautify, best, better, beyond all praise, blameless, born, broad-based, button up, call off, cancel, cap, carry out, carry through, carry to completion, categorical, chaste, classical, clean, clean up, clear, climax, close out, close up, complete, comprehensive, conclude, conclusive, congenital, consummate, correct, crass, crown, culminate, cultivate, dead right, decided, decisive, deep-dyed, defectless, definite, definitive, deft, delete, determinate, develop, dispose of, do to perfection, downright, drop the curtain, durative, dyed-in-the-wool, effect, egregious, elaborate, embellish, emend, end, end off, entire, evolve, exact, exceed, excel, excellent, execute, exhaustive, experienced, expert, explicit, express, expunge, exquisite, extinguish, faultless, final, finalize, finish, finish off, finish up, finished, fit, fitting, fixed, flagrant, flat, flat-out, flawless, fold up, fulfilled, full, fully realized, future, future perfect, get done, get it over, get over with, get through, get through with, gifted, give the quietus, glaring, global, go one better, gross, historical present, holy, ideal, illimitable, immaculate, impeccable, imperfect, implicit, improve, improve on, inappealable, incomparable, indefectible, indefective, indisputable, infallible, inimitable, intact, integral, intensive, intolerable, irreproachable, just, just right, kayo, kibosh, kill, knock out, letter-perfect, lifelike, limitless, masterful, masterly, matchless, mature, mere, meticulous, model, mop up, needed, no strings, nonpareil, okay, omnibus, omnipresent, open, out-and-out, outright, outweigh, overbalance, overbear, overcome, overpass, overtop, past, past perfect, peerless, peremptory, perfected, pervasive, plain, plenary, plumb, pluperfect, point tense, polish, polish off, polished, positive, precious, precise, predominate, preponderate, present, present perfect, preterit, prevail, professional, proficient, profound, progressive tense, pronounced, proper, pure, put paid to, put right, radical, rank, realize, rectify, refine, regular, reliable, required, requisite, right, righteous, ripen, round, round out, scrag, season, set right, shattering, sheer, shocking, shoot down, simple, sinless, skilled, sleek, slick, smooth, sound, spotless, stainless, stark, stark-staring, straight, straight-out, straight-up-and-down, sublime, suitable, superb, superlative, supreme, surpass, surpassing, sweeping, taintless, talented, tense, terminate, the veriest, thorough, thoroughgoing, through-and-through, top, top off, top out, total, tower above, tower over, transcend, true, trump, ubiquitous, unadulterated, unalloyed, unbearable, unblemished, unbound, unbounded, unbroken, uncircumscribed, unconditional, unconditioned, unconfined, unconscionable, uncontaminated, undamaged, undeniable, undiluted, undoubting, unequivocal, unerring, unexcelled, unfaultable, unflawed, unhampered, unhesitating, unimpaired, uninjured, universal, unlimited, unmatched, unmeasured, unmistakable, unmitigated, unmixed, unqualified, unquestioning, unrelieved, unreserved, unrestricted, unspoiled, unspotted, untainted, unwaivable, utter, veritable, very, whole, wholesale, wide-open, wind up, wipe out, without exception, without reserve, without strings, wrap up, zap