<B>perfect, </B>adjective, verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having no faults; not spoiled at any point; without defect. <BR> <I>Ex. a perfect spelling paper, a perfect apple, a perfect life. Perfect work shows great care.</I> (SYN) faultless, impeccable. <DD><B> 2a. </B>completely skilled; expert. <BR> <I>Ex. a perfect golfer. Our battle is more full of names than yours, Our men more perfect in the use of arms (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) accomplished. <DD><B> b. </B>thoroughly learned or acquired. <BR> <I>Ex. The lesson is but plain, And once made perfect, never lost again (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>having all its parts there; whole; complete. <BR> <I>Ex. The set was perfect; nothing was missing or broken.</I> (SYN) intact. <DD><B> 4. </B>exact. <BR> <I>Ex. a perfect copy, a perfect circle.</I> (SYN) precise. <DD><B> 5. </B>entire; utter; total. <BR> <I>Ex. perfect quiet. He was a perfect stranger to us.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>pure; unmixed; unalloyed. <BR> <I>Ex. perfect blue.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Grammar.) <DD><B> a. </B>showing an action or event completed at the time of speaking or at the time spoken of. <DD><B> b. </B>designating a verb form or verb phrase with such a meaning. Three perfect tenses in English are: present perfect (<I>I have done</I>), past perfect (<I>I had done</I>), and future perfect (<I>I will have done</I>). <DD><B> 8. </B>(Botany.) having both stamens and pistils. <BR> <I>Ex. a perfect flower.</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>(Music.) having to do with the intervals or original consonances of unison, a fourth, fifth, and octave, as contrasted with the major intervals of a third and sixth. <DD><B> 10. </B>(Mathematics.) (of a whole number) equal to the sum of its divisors. <DD><B> 11. </B>(Obsolete.) assured; certain. <BR> <I>Ex. Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd upon The deserts of Bohemia? (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 12. </B>(Obsolete.) satisfied; contented. <BR> <I>Ex. Might we but have that happiness ... we should think ourselves forever perfect (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make perfect; remove all faults from; add the finishing touches to; improve. <BR> <I>Ex. to perfect an invention. The artist is perfecting his picture.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to carry through; complete; finish. <BR> <I>Ex. to perfect a plan; ... the system of religious persecution commenced by Charles, and perfected by Philip (John L. Motley).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make fully skilled. <BR> <I>Ex. to perfect oneself in an art.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (Grammar.) <B>1. </B>the perfect tense. <DD><B> 2. </B>a verb form or verb phrase in the perfect tense. <I>Have eaten</I> is the perfect of <I>eat.</I> (Abbr:) perf. noun <B>perfecter.</B> noun <B>perfectness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="perfecta">
<B>perfecta, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tas.</B> =exacta.</DL>
<A NAME="perfectability">
<B>perfectability, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B> =perfectibility.</DL>
<A NAME="perfectbinding">
<B>perfect binding,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a method of binding books, pads of paper, and the like, in which glue is applied to each cut sheet of paper on the binding edge, and a paper cover is put on or a stiff backing is attached. Perfect binding is used for most inexpensive paperback books. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectbound">
<B>perfect-bound, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (of a book) bound by perfect binding. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectcadence">
<B>perfect cadence,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) a cadence in which the closing chord is the tonic. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectgame">
<B>perfect game,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a baseball game in which the pitcher does not allow any member of the opposing team to reach first base and in which there are no base hits, no walks, and no runs in nine or more innings. <DD><B> 2. </B>a bowling game of twelve consecutive strikes. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectibility">
<B>perfectibility, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> capability of becoming, or being made, perfect. <BR> <I>Ex. Patience, he derives from the innermost faith in the perfectibility of man (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectible">
<B>perfectible, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> capable of becoming, or being made, perfect; able to attain perfection. <BR> <I>Ex. Man, he thought, was perfectible, and a little calm argument would make him perfect (Leslie Stephen).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfection">
<B>perfection, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>perfect condition; faultless quality; highest excellence. (SYN) faultlessness. <DD><B> 2. </B>a perfect person or thing. <BR> <I>Ex. His work was always perfection. The Empire coach was the perfection of fast travelling (Charles Lever).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the act or process of making complete or perfect. <BR> <I>Ex. Perfection of our plans will take another week.</I> (SYN) fulfillment. <DD><B> 4. </B>a quality, trait, or accomplishment, of a high degree of excellence. <DD><B> 5. </B>the highest or most perfect degree of a quality or trait. <BR> <I>Ex. the perfection of goodness.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>to perfection,</B> </I>perfectly. <BR> <I>Ex. He played the difficult violin concerto to perfection.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectionism">
<B>perfectionism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any of various doctrines maintaining that religious, moral, social, or political perfection is attainable. <BR> <I>Ex. An anxious perfectionism can ... destroy those real underpinnings of existence, found in faith, modesty, humor (Atlantic).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the beliefs or practices of a perfectionist. <BR> <I>Ex. Often she has tried to moderate his irritable perfectionism, which can result in his berating other actors (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectionist">
<B>perfectionist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person who is not content with anything that is not perfect or nearly perfect. <BR> <I>Ex. It is hard to keep house for a perfectionist.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who believes that it is possible to lead a sinless life. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with perfectionists or perfectionism. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectionistic">
<B>perfectionistic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> seeking or demanding perfection, especially to an impractical degree; being a perfectionist. </DL>
<A NAME="perfective">
<B>perfective, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>tending to make perfect or complete. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Grammar.) (in some languages) designating or having to do with an aspect of the verb that expresses completion of action. <DD><I>noun </I> (Grammar.) <B>1. </B>the perfective aspect. <DD><B> 2. </B>a verb form or verb phrase in the perfective aspect. adv. <B>perfectively.</B> noun <B>perfectiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectly">
<B>perfectly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a perfect manner or degree; fully or faultlessly; completely or thoroughly; with utmost exactness; entirely. <BR> <I>Ex. perfectly clear. I understand the difficulty perfectly, mother (George Eliot).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectnumber">
<B>perfect number,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a positive integer which is equal to the sum of its factors (other than itself). Six, being the sum of its factors 1, 2, and 3, is a perfect number, as is 28 (1, 2, 4, 7, and 14). </DL>
<A NAME="perfecto">
<B>perfecto, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a thick cigar that tapers nearly to a point at both ends. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectparticiple">
<B>perfect participle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a participle expressing action completed before the time of speaking or acting. In "Having written the letter, she mailed it," <I>having written</I> is a perfect participle. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectpitch">
<B>perfect pitch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the sense of pitch that enables a person to identify a tone heard and name it as a note on a musical scale; absolute pitch. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectream">
<B>perfect ream,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a package or pile of 516 uniform sheets of printing paper; 21 1/2 quires. </DL>
<A NAME="perfectrhyme">
<B>perfect rhyme,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>rhyme between two words having the same pronunciation but different meanings; rich rhyme. Examples: <I>bear</I> (animal), <I>bear</I> (carry), <I>bare</I> (naked); <I>sale, sail.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>rhyme between two words having the same stress but different sounds preceding the stressed vowels, as in <I>frightening</I> and <I>tightening.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="perfectyear">
<B>perfect year,</B> =abundant year.</DL>
<A NAME="perfervid">
<B>perfervid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> very fervid; very ardent. <BR> <I>Ex. She was moved by this perfervid letter ... Its effect--the effect of its passionate flattery--was to lift her nobly to an eminence (Maurice Hewlett).</I> adv. <B>perfervidly.</B> noun <B>perfervidness.</B> </DL>
<B>perfidious, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> deliberately faithless; treacherous. <BR> <I>Ex. Compelled to parley, Bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem (John L. Motley).</I> (SYN) false, traitorous, unfaithful. adv. <B>perfidiously.</B> noun <B>perfidiousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="perfidy">
<B>perfidy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a breaking faith; base treachery; being false to a trust. <BR> <I>Ex. a forsaken lady ... bewailing the perfidy of her lover (Charlotte Bronte).</I> (SYN) faithlessness, betrayal, disloyalty. </DL>
<A NAME="perfluorochemical">
<B>perfluorochemical, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> any one of a group of chemical compounds in which hydrogen has been replaced by fluorine. Emulsions of such chemicals have been used in experiments as short-term substitutes for blood. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with perfluorochemicals. </DL>
<A NAME="perfoliate">
<B>perfoliate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the stem apparently passing through the blade. <BR> <I>Ex. a perfoliate leaf.</I> </DL>
<B>perforate, </B>verb, <B>-rated,</B> <B>-rating,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1a. </B>to make a hole or holes through; bore or punch through, as with a sharp instrument; pierce. <BR> <I>Ex. The target was perforated by bullets.</I> (SYN) puncture. <DD><B> b. </B>to make a hole or holes into; bore into. <BR> <I>Ex. trees perforated by woodpeckers.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to make a row or rows of holes through. <BR> <I>Ex. Sheets of postage stamps are perforated.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make its way into or through something; make a perforation. <DD><I>adj. </I> pierced. <BR> <I>Ex. perforate corals.</I> noun <B>perforator.</B> </DL>
