PERFECTLY

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does perfectly mean? 

• PERFECTLY (adverb)
  The adverb PERFECTLY has 2 senses:

1. completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers

2. in a perfect or faultless way

  Familiarity information: PERFECTLY used as an adverb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERFECTLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers

Synonyms:

absolutely; dead; perfectly; utterly

Context example:

dead right

Pertainym:

perfect (without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In a perfect or faultless way

Context example:

solved the problem perfectly

Antonym:

imperfectly (in an imperfect or faulty way)

Pertainym:

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

 Context examples 

"This forest is perfectly delightful," declared the Lion, looking around him with joy.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

All the rest, in speculation at least, was perfectly smooth.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Shopping in Regent Street is perfectly splendid.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We can be perfectly frank with each other.

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

On this day, Jupiter and the Sun will be perfectly aligned.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This observation program is perfectly timed as NASA’s Juno spacecraft is currently in the solar wind near Jupiter and will enter the orbit of the planet in early July 2016.

(Hubble Captures Vivid Auroras in Jupiter’s Atmosphere, NASA)

They were very long, very numerous, very hard—perfectly unintelligible, some of them, to me—and I was generally as much bewildered by them as I believe my poor mother was herself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If you look at a group of people who are all the same age, some may be perfectly healthy while others are not.

(Older biologic age linked to elevated breast cancer risk, National Institutes of Health)

"I just happen to feel that way, because I'm tired, I guess. But the story was grand just the same, perfectly grand. Where are you goin' to sell it?"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We perfectly understand the present vexation; and everybody must love you the better for such a noble honest affection.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)