PERFECT

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does perfect mean? 

• PERFECT (noun)
  The noun PERFECT has 1 sense:

1. a tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)

  Familiarity information: PERFECT used as a noun is very rare.

• PERFECT (adjective)
  The adjective PERFECT has 3 senses:

1. being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish

2. without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers

3. precisely accurate or exact

  Familiarity information: PERFECT used as an adjective is uncommon.

• PERFECT (verb)
  The verb PERFECT has 1 sense:

1. make perfect or complete

  Familiarity information: PERFECT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERFECT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

perfect; perfect tense; perfective; perfective tense

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

tense (a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time)

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

present perfect; present perfect tense (a perfective tense used to express action completed in the present)

past perfect; past perfect tense; pluperfect; pluperfect tense (a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past)

future perfect; future perfect tense (a perfective tense used to describe action that will be completed in the future)

• PERFECT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish

Context example:

a perfect day

Similar:

faultless; immaculate; impeccable; incorrupted (without fault or error)

clear (free from flaw or blemish or impurity)

flawless; unflawed (without a flaw)

ideal (conforming to an ultimate standard of perfection or excellence; embodying an ideal)

idealised; idealized (exalted to an ideal perfection or excellence)

idyllic (excellent and delightful in all respects)

mint (as if new)

perfectible (capable of becoming or being made perfect)

pluperfect (more than perfect)

uncorrupted; undefiled ((of language) not having its purity or excellence debased)

errorless (free from error)

down; down pat; mastered (understood perfectly)

complete; consummate (perfect and complete in every respect; having all necessary qualities)

cold (marked by errorless familiarity)

clean ((of a record) having no marks of discredit or offense)

Also:

exact (marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact)

unbroken (not broken; whole and intact; in one piece)

unblemished; unmarred; unmutilated (free from physical or moral spots or stains)

utopian (characterized by or aspiring to impracticable perfection)

Attribute:

flawlessness; ne plus ultra; perfection (the state of being without a flaw or defect)

Antonym:

imperfect (not perfect; defective or inadequate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers

Synonyms:

arrant; complete; consummate; double-dyed; everlasting; gross; perfect; pure; sodding; staring; stark; thorough; thoroughgoing; unadulterated; utter

Context example:

the unadulterated truth

Similar:

unmitigated (not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; sometimes used as an intensifier)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Precisely accurate or exact

Context example:

perfect timing

Similar:

exact (marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact)

• PERFECT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they perfect ... he / she / it perfects   
Past simple: perfected   
Past participle: perfected   
-ing form: perfecting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make perfect or complete

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

hone; perfect

Context example:

perfect your French in Paris!

Hypernyms (to "perfect" is one way to...):

ameliorate; amend; better; improve; meliorate (to make better)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "perfect"):

optimise; optimize (make optimal; get the most out of; use best)

brush up; polish; polish up; round; round off (bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

perfecter (a skilled worker who perfects something)

perfectible (capable of becoming or being made perfect)

perfection (the act of making something perfect)

 Context examples 

It will send a perfect golden beam to the Sun, your ruling star.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I say, Jane, what a perfect character you and I should make, if we could be shaken together.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

If you loved me, Jo, I should be a perfect saint, for you could make me anything you like.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“I shall soon be rested,” said Fanny; “to sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure, is the most perfect refreshment.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He has never said anything. He is a perfect gentleman. But a girl always knows.

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

It was an expression of perfect confidence, of absolute self-surrender, as though he said: "I put myself into thy hands. Work thou thy will with me."

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners!—so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I tried here and tried there, but there were lots of other chaps on the same lay as myself, and it was a perfect frost for a long time.

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

What a still, hot, perfect day!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)