PERFECTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does perfection mean? 

• PERFECTION (noun)
  The noun PERFECTION has 3 senses:

1. the state of being without a flaw or defect

2. an ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept

3. the act of making something perfect

  Familiarity information: PERFECTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERFECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The state of being without a flaw or defect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

flawlessness; ne plus ultra; perfection

Hypernyms ("perfection" is a kind of...):

state (the way something is with respect to its main attributes)

Attribute:

perfect (being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish)

imperfect (not perfect; defective or inadequate)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "perfection"):

couth ((used facetiously) refinement)

dream (someone or something wonderful)

cultivation; culture; finish; polish; refinement (a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality)

fare-thee-well (state of perfection; the utmost degree)

intactness (the state of being unimpaired)

Antonym:

imperfection (the state or an instance of being imperfect)

Derivation:

perfectionist (a person who is displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

beau ideal; idol; paragon; perfection

Hypernyms ("perfection" is a kind of...):

ideal (the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "perfection"):

gold standard (a paragon of excellence)

Derivation:

perfectionist (a person who is displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of making something perfect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("perfection" is a kind of...):

improvement (the act of improving something)

Derivation:

perfect (make perfect or complete)

perfectionist (a person who is displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards)

 Context examples 

When you have been here a little longer, Miss Fairfax, you will understand that Mr. Elton is the standard of perfection in Highbury, both in person and mind.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

My own sister as a wife, Sir Thomas Bertram as a husband, are my standards of perfection.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

You are not to suppose that I desired perfection, either of mind or person.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Merely looking at me with extravagant slyness, and not waiting for any reply, she continued, without drawing breath: There! If ever any scapegrace was trimmed and touched up to perfection, you are, Steerforth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It would be difficult to say which had seen highest perfection in the other, or which had been the happiest: she, in receiving his declarations and proposals, or he in having them accepted.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

This I know: that if ever there was a woman who was all perfection, that one is my poor wronged darling.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquillity.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

However, these two planets need not be in mathematical perfection, as they will be on the three dates listed for you to feel their glow.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I should then see the discovery of the longitude, the perpetual motion, the universal medicine, and many other great inventions, brought to the utmost perfection.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)