perfectionist

From perfection +‎ -ist.

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/

perfectionist (plural perfectionists)

1. Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. [from 20th c.]
2. (philosophy, now rare) Someone who thinks that religious or moral perfection can be attained in this life. [from 17th c.]
   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CXVI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:

     I have read in some of our perfectionists enough to make a better man than myself either run into madness or despair about the grace you mention […].

3. (US, historical) One of the Bible Communists or Free-lovers, a small American sect founded by J. H. Noyes (1811-86), which settled at Oneida in 1848, holding that the gospel if accepted secures freedom from sin. [from 19th c.]

• perfectionism
• perfectionistic

perfectionist (comparative more perfectionist, superlative most perfectionist)

1. Demanding perfection; being a perfectionist; imposing overly high standards.

   perfectionistic parents

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:perfectionist.
2. (philosophy) Inclined or related to perfectionism.

By surface analysis, French perfection +‎ -ist.

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /pɛrˌfɛk.ʃoːˈnɪst/, /ˌpɛr.fɛk.ʃoːˈnɪst/, /pər-/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /pɛr.fɛk.s(i.)joːˈnɪst/

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• Hyphenation: per‧fec‧ti‧o‧nist
• Rhymes: -ɪst

perfectionist m (plural perfectionisten, diminutive perfectionistje n, feminine perfectioniste)

1. perfectionist