perfection

From Middle English perfeccioun, from Old French perfection, from Latin perfectiō. Displaced native Old English fulfremednes.

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈfɛk.ʃən/

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• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

perfection (countable and uncountable, plural perfections)

1. The quality or state of being perfect or complete, so that nothing substandard remains; the highest attainable state or degree of excellence

   We seek complete perfection.

   The system runs to perfection.

   to imitate a model to perfection

2. A quality, endowment, or acquirement completely excellent; an ideal; faultlessness; especially, the divine attribute of complete excellence.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, →OCLC:

     No tongue can her perfections tell

• 1784, William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c., PREFACE

  THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Perſons of the firſt diſtinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ſeveral new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and diſtinguiſh it from others ; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.

• faultlessness
• flawlessness
• impeccability
• infallibility

perfection (third-person singular simple present perfections, present participle perfectioning, simple past and past participle perfectioned)

1. (now uncommon and nonstandard, transitive) To perfect.
   • 1762, [Samuel] Foote, The Orators. […], Dublin: […] Thomas Richey, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 10:

     My plan, gentlemen, is to be conſider'd as a ſuperſtructure on that admirable foundation laid by the modern profeſſor of Engliſh, both our labours tending to the ſame general end; the perfectioning of our countrymen in a moſt eſſential article, the right uſe of their native language.

   • 1770, William Woty, Mock Invocation to Genius‎:

     Sooner I'd kneel unto the modern nine / Alike perfectioned, though a virgin's name / They cannot boast […]

   • 2001 December 3, OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol, “AHSM Storytellers, Profiles”, in alt.hentai.sailor-moon‎ (Usenet):

     The most vain of the Assistants, she knows she's beautiful and let it know to the world. Acts like an ojousama and spends most of her time perfectioning her make-up.

• “perfection”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Learned borrowing from Latin perfectiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.fɛk.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

perfection f (uncountable)

1. perfection

• parfait

• “perfection”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

perfection f (plural perfections)

1. perfection