perfectionist

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Noun

perfectionist (plural perfectionists)

1. Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. [from 20th c.]
2. (philosophy, now, rare) Someone who thinks that religious or moral perfection can be attained in this life. [from 17th c.]
   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 116:

     I have read in some of our perfectionists enough to make a better man than myself either run into madness or despair about the grace you mention […].

3. (US, historical) One of the Bible Communists or Free-lovers, a small American sect founded by J. H. Noyes (1811-86), which settled at Oneida in 1848, holding that the gospel if accepted secures freedom from sin. [from 19th c.]

Related terms

• perfectionism
• perfectionistic

Translations

• French: perfectionniste
• German: Perfektionist, Perfektionistin
• Italian: perfezionista
• Portuguese: perfeccionista
• Russian: перфекциони́ст
• Spanish: perfeccionista

Adjective

perfectionist

1. Demanding perfection; being a perfectionist; imposing overly high standards.

   perfectionistic parents

2. (philosophy) Inclined or related to perfectionism.

Translations

• French: perfectionniste
• German: perfektionistisch
• Italian: perfezionista, perfezionistico
• Portuguese: perfeccionista
• Russian: перфекциони́стский
• Spanish: perfeccionista

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