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PERFECT
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A tense of verbs used in describing action that has been completed (sometimes regarded as perfective aspect)
Synonyms:
perfect; perfect tense; perfective; perfective tense
Classified under:
Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas
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)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Precisely accurate or exact
Example:
perfect timing
Classified under:
Similar:
exact (marked by strict and particular and complete accordance with fact)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers
Example:
the unadulterated truth
Synonyms:
arrant; complete; consummate; double-dyed; everlasting; gross; perfect; pure; sodding; staring; stark; thorough; thoroughgoing; unadulterated; utter
Classified under:
Similar:
unmitigated (not diminished or moderated in intensity or severity; sometimes used as an intensifier)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish
Example:
a perfect day
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
faultless; immaculate; impeccable; incorrupted (without fault or error)
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)
clear (free from flaw or blemish or impurity)
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)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
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
Example:
perfect your French in Paris!
Synonyms:
hone; perfect
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
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 was indeed my misfortune to find them at that time not very perfect in their lessons, and the professor himself happened to be generally mistaken.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Though I have forgot the exact terms, I have a perfect impression of the general meaning.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Even Challenger could give a few yards in a hundred to the best of them, and you or I would be a perfect Shrubb.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
James accepted this tribute of gratitude, and qualified his conscience for accepting it too, by saying with perfect sincerity, “Indeed, Catherine, I love you dearly.”
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
"You have so much in you that is good that I want to see you perfect."
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Researchers used computational simulations to find a MOF with the perfect pore size to carry an siRNA molecule, and that would breakdown once inside a cell, releasing the siRNA to its target.
(Nanoparticles used to transport anti-cancer agent to cells, University of Cambridge)
I will confide this tale of misery and terror to you the day after our marriage shall take place, for, my sweet cousin, there must be perfect confidence between us.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit and the most perfect truth.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
I have never seen body and spirit in such perfect accord.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He was so peaceful and resigned—clearly had his affairs in such perfect train, and so systematically wound up—that he was a man to feel touched in the contemplation of.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
