perfection
Americannoun
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the state or quality of being or becoming perfect.
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the highest degree of proficiency, skill, or excellence, as in some art.
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a perfect embodiment or example of something.
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a quality, trait, or feature of the highest degree of excellence.
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the highest or most nearly perfect degree of a quality or trait.
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the act or fact of perfecting.
noun
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the act of perfecting or the state or quality of being perfect
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the highest degree of a quality, etc
the perfection of faithfulness
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an embodiment of perfection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of perfection
First recorded in 1175–1225; from Latin perfectiōn-, stem of perfectiō “completion, finishing”; equivalent to perfect + -ion; replacing Middle English perfeccioun, perfectiun, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above
Explanation
Perfection is a flawless state where everything is exactly right. It can also be the action of making something perfect. Since perfect things are without fault or flaw, perfection is a perfect condition — everything is 100% great. Of course, perfection is hard to find. People often use this word as a compliment for something that just couldn’t be better, as in "That red dress matches your red hair to perfection!” Also, if a musician is getting a song down pat, you could say she’s working on the perfection of the song: she’s learning to play it flawlessly.
Vocabulary lists containing perfection
"Imperfect Me"
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"Romeo and Juliet" and "West Side Story"
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James Monroe's First Inaugural Address (1817)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One of the others is the Brick, that little piece of plastic that has exactly one job—to make my phone stop working in distracting ways—and executes it to perfection.
From Slate • Jun. 10, 2026
Still, he kept laboring toward a perfection he didn’t always reach but never despaired of reaching.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
Broadcom’s stock had been priced for perfection after a strong recent rally but the company’s earnings commentary didn’t live up to the hype — sending shares down 14% shortly after Thursday’s open.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
But perfection is hard to achieve—and the overall results showed that the company is on track to grow durably.
From Barron's • Jun. 3, 2026
Scythe Goddard loved to make it difficult for Rowan in these training sessions and always judged him harshly when he didn’t rise to some imaginary level of perfection.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
