per·fect • adj. / ˈpərfikt/ 1. having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be: she strove to be the perfect wife life certainly isn't perfect at the moment. ∎  free from any flaw or defect in condition or quality; faultless: the equipment was in perfect condition. ∎  precisely accurate; exact: a perfect circle. ∎  highly suitable for someone or something; exactly right: Gary was perfect for her—ten years older and with his own career. ∎ Printing denoting a way of binding books in which pages are glued to the spine rather than sewn together. ∎ dated thoroughly trained in or conversant with: she was perfect in French.2. absolute; complete (used for emphasis): a perfect stranger all that Joseph said made perfect sense to me.3. Math. (of a number) equal to the sum of its positive divisors, e.g., the number 6, whose divisors (1, 2, 3) also add up to 6.4. Gram. (of a tense) denoting a completed action or a state or habitual action that began in the past. The perfect tense is formed in English with have or has and the past participle, as in they have eaten and they have been eating (since dawn) (present perfect), they had eaten (past perfect), and they will have eaten (future perfect).5. Bot. (of a flower) having both stamens and carpels present and functional. ∎  Bot. denoting the stage or state of a fungus in which the sexually produced spores are formed. ∎  Entomol. (of an insect) fully adult and (typically) winged.• v. / pərˈfekt/ [tr.] make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible: he's busy perfecting his bowling technique. ∎ archaic bring to completion; finish. ∎  complete (a printed sheet of paper) by printing the second side. ∎ Law satisfy the necessary conditions or requirements for the transfer of (a gift, title, etc.): equity will not perfect an imperfect gift.• n. / ˈpərfikt/ (the perfect) Gram. the perfect tense.DERIVATIVES: per·fect·er / pərˈfektər/ n.per·fect·i·bil·i·ty / pərˌfektəˈbilitē/ n.per·fect·i·ble / pərˈfektəbəl/ adj.per·fect·ness / ˈpərfək(t)nəs/ n.ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French perfet, from Latin perfectus ‘completed,’ from the verb perficere, from per- ‘through, completely’ + facere ‘do.’

PERFECT. A term for an aspect of the VERB concerned with completion. In the Slavonic languages, the perfective and imperfective are signalled by inflections on the verb, the perfective denoting the completion of the activity and the imperfective its non-completion. In English, the perfect (also sometimes termed the perfective) contrasts with the non-perfect, and is formed by a combination of the auxiliary have and an -ed participle: present perfect (has/have discovered); past perfect or pluperfect (had discovered); present continuous progressive perfect (has/have been discovering); past continuous progressive perfect (had been discovering); future perfect (will have discovered); future continuous progressive perfect (will have been discovering). In general, the perfect indicates a previous indefinite period with which the action of the verb takes place. For the present perfect, that period begins in the past and extends to the present: I have lived in London since I was born (until the present time); She has broken her arm (and the effect is still noticeable); I haven't seen the film (but may still do so). The past perfect indicates an action previous to another action within a past period: Tom had not seen his parents since they were divorced. The past perfect can also denote a past action (past before the past) without any aspectual force, in which case it is often replaced by the simple past: After he (had) consulted his solicitor, Colin refused to sign the contract. The future perfect refers to an event before a future event: Pat will have finished her essay by the time we arrive. See TENSE.

perfect thoroughly versed or trained; in a complete state XIII; in a faultless state, accurate XIV; (arith.) XV; unqualified, unalloyed XVI; (gram.) of a tense. ME. parfīt, -fite, later parfet, (by assim. to L.) perfect XV — OF. parfit, -fite (mod. -fait) — L. perfectus, pp. of perficere accomplish, complete, f. PER-2 + facere make, DO1.
Hence perfect vb. XIV. So perfectible XVII. — medL. perfection †complete state XIII; bringing to completion; condition of being perfect XIV. — (O)F. — L. perfective conducing to perfection XVI; (gram.) XIX. — medL.

Perfect ★½ 1985 (R)

A “Rolling Stone” reporter goes after the shallowness of the Los Angeles health club scene, and falls in love with the aerobics instructor he is going to write about. “Rolling Stone” publisher Wenner plays himself. As bad as it sounds. 120m/C VHS, DVD . John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carly Simon, Marilu Henner, Laraine Newman, Jann Wenner, Anne DeSalvo; D: James Bridges; W: James Bridges, Aaron Latham; C: Gordon Willis; M: Ralph Burns.

perfect perfect number a number which is equal to the sum of its factors (not including itself).

See also practice makes perfect.