Word family noun perfection ≠ imperfection perfectionist perfectionism perfectibility adjective perfect ≠ imperfect perfectible perfectionist verb perfect adverb perfectly ≠ imperfectly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishperfectionistper‧fec‧tion‧ist /pəˈfekʃənɪst $ pər-/ noun [countable] PERFECTsomeone who is not satisfied with anything unless it is completely perfect Many top athletes are perfectionists who drive themselves to excel. —perfectionist adjective —perfectionism noun [uncountable]Examples from the Corpus
perfectionist• Hoffman is known to be a perfectionist who is often hard on directors.• Hoffman is known to be a perfectionist who is often hard on directors.• Agnes Miller, the Housekeeper, is a perfectionist, and the linen, furnishings and carpets are always immaculately clean.• At the same time, she remained a perfectionist, equally determined to present a flawless facade.• Mart Kenney was a perfectionist, and his high standards were an example to everyone else.• An ambitious perfectionist, he practiced each new spectacle until he could perform it with his eyes closed.• These people are perfectionists, ambitious, hard-working and extremely neat and tidy.• Fernand Braudel the perfectionist was still working on the book when he died.• She worked carefully on her drawing, with all the attention to detail of the perfectionist.• The perfectionist is an anxious person, always afraid of what may go wrong.• In other words, one alternative to anti-perfectionism is restrictions on the choice of means through which perfectionist ideals are pursued. 