Meaning & use
perfection
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Meanings
noununcountable
The state of having no flaws or being as good as something can be.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: strive for perfection.
Patterns
- strive for perfection
- something is perfection
The chef aims for perfection in every dish.
The cake was cooked to perfection.
She plays the piano with near perfection.
noununcountableformal
The act of making something perfect or complete.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the perfection of a technique.
Patterns
- the perfection of something
Years of practice led to the perfection of his technique.
The perfection of the process took ten years.
The lab worked on the perfection of the new design.
nounsingularinformal
Someone or something that is a perfect example of its kind, often in a complimentary phrase.
Grammar: Often used as a predicate: the view was perfection.
Patterns
- be perfection
The sunset over the bay was perfection.
His timing in the scene was sheer perfection.
This soup is perfection on a cold night.
Common combinations
- to perfection
- The steak was cooked to perfection.
- strive for perfection
- Athletes strive for perfection.
- near perfection
- The team played with near perfection.
- pursuit of perfection
- The pursuit of perfection can be exhausting.
- absolute perfection
- The dessert was absolute perfection.
Synonyms and how they differ
- excellence
- Excellence means very high quality but allows small flaws, while perfection suggests none at all.
- flawlessness
- Flawlessness focuses on the absence of faults, and is rarer than perfection.
- ideal
- Ideal is the standard people imagine, whereas perfection is the state of meeting it.
- mastery
- Mastery is about great skill, not about having no faults.
Opposites
Word family
- perfect adjective
- having no faults
- perfect verb
- to make something perfect
- perfectly adverb
- in a perfect way
- perfectionist noun
- someone who wants everything perfect
- perfectionism noun
- the habit of demanding perfection
Commonly confused: perfection or perfect?
perfection vs perfect
Perfect is the adjective or verb, while perfection is the noun for the state.
Practice
The singer's performance was close to ___.
Choose one answer.
After the preposition to we need a noun, so perfection fits. Perfect is an adjective, and the other forms are a verb form and an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “perfection”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.