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The word perfect comes from Latin meaning what?

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perfect

American  

[pur-fikt, per-fekt] / ˈpɜr fɪkt, pərˈfɛkt /

adjective

1. matching in every detail the definition of an ideal type of something.

   Even a ball bearing is not a perfect sphere.

   Your son is a perfect gentleman!

2. excellent or complete beyond practical or theoretical improvement.

   There is no perfect legal code.

   The proportions of this temple are almost perfect.

3. exactly fitting the need in a certain situation or for a certain purpose.

   He is the perfect actor to play Mr. Micawber.

   I have the perfect saw for cutting out keyholes.

4. entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings.

   She chose a perfect apple from the bowl.

   It was very nearly the perfect crime—next to impossible for detectives to solve.

   Synonyms:

   picture-perfect, faultless, flawless

5. accurate, exact, or correct in every detail.

   I’ll email you a perfect copy when revisions are complete.

6. thorough or complete; absolute; utter.

   A week ago we were perfect strangers, and already we’ve become friends.

   He made a perfect fool of himself.

7. expert; accomplished; proficient.

   She will need a perfect driving teacher.

8. pure or unmixed.

   perfect yellow.

9. Botany.

   1. having all parts or members present.

   2. monoclinous.

10. Grammar. designating a verb aspect or other verb category used for an action or state that is or will be complete as of some point of reference in time, and that is thought of with regard to its relevance or effect for that time.

11. Music.

    1. of or designating the consonances of unison, octave, and fifth, as distinguished from those of the third and sixth.

    2. of or designating the intervals, harmonic or melodic, of an octave, fifth, and fourth in their normal form, as opposed to augmented and diminished.

12. Mathematics. (of a set) equal to its set of accumulation points.

13. Obsolete. assured or certain.

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noun

Grammar.

1. 1. a verb aspect or other verb category used for an action or state that is or will be complete as of some point of reference in time, and that is thought of with regard to its relevance or effect for that time.

   2. an instance or form of a verb in this aspect, as in I have washed the dishes, so can I go now? or By the time I arrived they had finished breakfast.

verb (used with object)

• perfects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• perfected,
  past participle,  past
• perfecting
  present participle

1. to bring to perfection; make flawless or faultless.

   He has succeeded in perfecting his recipe for chicken Kiev.

2. to bring nearer to perfection; improve; make better.

   She works hard to perfect her writing.

3. to make fully skilled.

4. to bring to completion; finish.

   Nietzsche believed that the emergence of the Superman would perfect the evolution of the human race.

5. Printing. to print the reverse of (a printed sheet).

perfect British  

adjective

1. having all essential elements

2. unblemished; faultless

   a perfect gemstone

3. correct or precise

   perfect timing

4. utter or absolute

   a perfect stranger

5. excellent in all respects

   a perfect day

6. maths exactly divisible into equal integral or polynomial roots

   36 is a perfect square

7. botany

   1. (of flowers) having functional stamens and pistils

   2. (of plants) having all parts present

8. grammar denoting a tense of verbs used in describing an action that has been completed by the subject. In English this is a compound tense, formed with have or has plus the past participle

9. music

   1. of or relating to the intervals of the unison, fourth, fifth, and octave

   2. Also: full, final. (of a cadence) ending on the tonic chord, giving a feeling of conclusion Compare imperfect

10. archaic positive certain, or assured

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noun

1. grammar

   1. the perfect tense

   2. a verb in this tense

verb

1. to make perfect; improve to one's satisfaction

   he is in Paris to perfect his French

2. to make fully accomplished

3. printing to print the reverse side of (a printed sheet of paper)

Usage

A few usage guides still object to the use of comparison words such as more, most, nearly, almost, and rather with perfect on the grounds that perfect describes an absolute, yes-or-no condition that cannot logically be said to exist in varying degrees. The English language has never agreed to this limitation. Since its earliest use in the 13th century, perfect has, like almost all adjectives, been compared, first in the now obsolete forms perfecter and perfectest, and more recently with more, most, and similar comparison words: the most perfect arrangement of color and line imaginable. Perfect is compared in most of its general senses in all varieties of speech and writing. After all, one of the objectives of the writers of the U. S. Constitution was “to form a more perfect union.” See also complete, unique.

For most of its meanings, the adjective perfect describes an absolute state, i.e. one that cannot be qualified; thus something is either perfect or not perfect, and cannot be more perfect or less perfect. However when perfect means excellent in all respects, a comparative can be used with it without absurdity: the next day the weather was even more perfect

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• perfecter
  noun
• perfectness
  noun
• nonperfected
  adjective
• quasi-perfect
  adjective
• self-perfecting
  adjective
• superperfect
  adjective
• unperfect
  adjective
• unperfected
  adjective
• perfectedly
  adverb
• quasi-perfectly
  adverb
• superperfectly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• perfecting
  present
• perfected
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• perfect
  simple
• perfects
  simple
• have perfected
  perfect
• has perfected
  perfect
• am perfecting
  progressive
• are perfecting
  progressive
• is perfecting
  progressive
• have been perfecting
  perfect progressive
• has been perfecting
  perfect progressive

Past

• perfected
  simple
• had perfected
  perfect
• was perfecting
  progressive
• were perfecting
  progressive
• had been perfecting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will perfect
  simple
• will have perfected
  perfect
• will be perfecting
  progressive
• will have been perfecting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of perfect

First recorded in 1250–1300; from Latin perfectus “finished,” past participle of perficere “to finish, bring to completion,” from per- per- + -fecere, combining form of facere “to do, make” ( see also do ¹); replacing Middle English parfit, from Old French, from Latin, as above

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Explanation

Something that is perfect is complete and without defect or blemish. It might also be precisely accurate or exact. The word perfect can also be used as a verb meaning — you guessed it! — to make something perfect. (Note, though, the pronunciation difference: PER-fect as a noun; per-FECT as a verb.) It originally comes from the Latin word perficere, which breaks down into per- ("completely") and facere ("do"). As a noun perfect is a grammatical term referring to a tense of verbs describing an action that has been completed.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perfect perfects perfected perfecting

With the floodlights on and skies dark, conditions were perfect for seam bowling when Australia's reply began.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

It’s the perfect example of how movies can make something as intangible as love go on forever.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

The key to perfect scrambled eggs is: ricotta.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

Musk has long promised to perfect self-driving technology and make it available in existing Tesla models.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

It was perfect for whooshing a girl and an iguana over bumps and dips and splashing them into the pool at the bottom.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

As “Maddie’s Secret” continues, and the titular Maddie falls deeper into the grasp of her titular secret, Early perfects that push and pull.

From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026

The avatar perfects the theater, showing up with scripted answers.

From MarketWatch ● May 6, 2026

Ever wondered how an actor from Brisbane, Australia, perfects a Northern accent?

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026

Just as a chef perfects a dish by experimenting with flavors and textures, the researchers used an iterative process, testing variations to find the ideal structure for the ionizable lipid.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2024

The realization of this tendency of things towards the absolute good, or ultimate end, is what constitutes the goodness of those things, and it does so because it perfects their natures.

From Ontology or the Theory of Being by Peter Coffey

Welbeck was a goalscoring sub at Manchester United and Arsenal but perfected the art on the south coast, with 12 of his tally coming during six years with Brighton.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

As a result, he says, "I think readers are coming to value very obviously personal writing, and maybe even writing that's messier, less structurally sound or composed or perfected, than they maybe once would've desired."

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

And they weren’t trying to maintain an existing aesthetic but to stand out with the best version of perfected artificiality money could buy.

From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026

On the precipice of World War II, the Dow Chemical Co. perfected a way to extract magnesium from ordinary seawater, giving America access to a virtually inexhaustible supply of a metal vital to modern warfare.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

It is very sociable inside my head, and I have perfected the art of getting a lot of people arguing together in silence or in a forum, as I prefer to call it.

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

That’s where Messi learned to marry his individual brilliance with the Dutch-infused, team-first style that Barcelona had been perfecting for nearly three decades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

He said that in a world focused on technology, where people can become caught up in making videos or perfecting production, writing requires nothing more than a pen and paper.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

The company’s ability to operate space-based data centers and ramp up rocket launches depends on perfecting critical technology.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026

Multiple employees were perfecting the already-perfect plateaus of bell peppers and apples in the produce section.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026

He keeps working on perfecting the human figure using all these media and opaque white paint.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

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