perfectionist

American  

[per-fek-shuh-nist] / pərˈfɛk ʃə nɪst /

noun

• perfectionists
  plural

1. a person who adheres to or believes in perfectionism.

2. a person who demands perfection of himself, herself, or others.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or distinguished by perfection or perfectionism.

perfectionist British  

/ pəˈfɛkʃənɪst /

noun

1. a person who strives for or demands the highest standards of excellence in work, etc

2. a person who believes the doctrine of perfectionism

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adjective

1. of or relating to perfectionism

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• perfectionistic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• perfectionists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of perfectionist

First recorded in 1650–60; perfection + -ist

Explanation

A perfectionist is someone with very high standards: they want everything to be just right at all times. You know how perfect things are flawless? A perfectionist wants things to be like that all the time. A writer who is a perfectionist will revise over and over again, trying to get every word just right. A perfectionist boss will be hard on employees who aren't as careful or hard-working. Perfectionists tend to do very good work because of their high standards.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perfectionist perfectionists

“I’m a perfectionist, so I wasn’t feeling confident,” he admits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

We learn that Mr. Margouleff is a kind of sonic perfectionist for whom even stereo is insufficient.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

Are these three subtitle terms — codependent, perfectionist, people-pleasing — interchangeable or interlinked?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

People who know Magyar personally say he is a perfectionist with a short temper but who will apologise for his shortcomings.

From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026

Like all athletic greats, Woolf was a driving perfectionist.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

For the perfectionists: Back in 2011, Farhad Manjoo argued that “you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.”

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026

That intrinsic level of care is present in “Hard Truths,” but without the fussiness that often feels present in films made by notorious perfectionists.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2025

But Palumbo, one of opera’s most mild-mannered yet most unrelenting perfectionists, was still making sure that the singers’ intonation was flawless, still fine-tuning the placement of the first note in a certain phrase.

From New York Times ● May 21, 2024

“We don’t care who scores, but all of us are perfectionists and when we mess up, we beat ourselves up,” Brown said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2024

“And it’s a temptation for any intelligent person, and especially for perfectionists such as the ancients and ourselves, to try to murder the primitive, emotive, appetitive self. But that is a mistake.”

From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt