perfection

English

Etymology

From Old French perfection, from Latin perfectiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɚˈfɛkʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛkʃən

Noun

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.
   • #* (Can we date this quote by Philip Sidney and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     What tongue can her perfections tell?

Quotations

• 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.

Synonyms

• faultlessness
• infallibility

Translations

being perfect

• Arabic: كَمَال m (kamāl)
• Asturian: perfeición f
• Catalan: perfecció (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 完美 (zh) (wánměi), 完善 (zh) (wánshàn), 完成 (zh) (wánchéng)

• Czech: dokonalost (cs) f
• Dutch: perfectie (nl) f
• Estonian: täiuslikkus
• Finnish: täydellisuus
• French: perfection (fr) f
• Galician: perfección (gl) f
• German: Vollkommenheit f, Perfektion (de) f
• Greek: τελειότητα (el) f (teleiótita)

  Ancient: τελειότης f (teleiótēs)

• Hebrew: הִשׁתַלְמוּת (hishtalmut)
• Hungarian: tökéletesség (hu), tökély
• Indonesian: kesempurnaan (id)
• Irish: foirfeacht f
• Italian: perfezione (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 完全 (ja) (kanzen), 完璧 (ja) (kampeki), 万全 (ja) (banzen)
• Korean: 완벽 (ko) (wanbyeok), 완전 (ko) (wanjeon)
• Kurdish:
• Maori: paruhitanga
• Occitan: perfeccion f
• Old English: fulfremednes f
• Persian: کمال (fa) (kamâl)
• Polish: doskonałość (pl) f, perfekcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: perfeição (pt) f
• Romanian: perfecțiune (ro) f
• Russian: соверше́нство (ru) n (soveršénstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: саврше́нство n

  Roman: savršénstvo (sh) n

• Spanish: perfección (es) f
• Swahili: ukamilifu (sw)
• Thai: ความสมบูรณ์ (th) (kwaam sŏmboon)
• Turkish: mükemmellik (tr), mükemmeliyet (tr), kusursuzluk (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Verb

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

1. (obsolete, transitive) To perfect.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Foote to this entry?)
   • #* (Can we date this quote by William Woty and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “perfection”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

References

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

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin perfectiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.fɛk.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

perfection f (uncountable)

1. perfection

Related terms

• parfait
• parfaitement

Further reading

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

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Middle French

Noun

perfection f (plural perfections)

1. perfection