perfectionist

perfectionist

English

Etymology

From perfection +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/

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], “Letter CXVI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815:

     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

person who does not settle for anything that is not perfect

Armenian: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: mükəmməliyyətçi Belarusian: перфекцыяні́ст m (pjerfjekcyjaníst), перфекцыяні́стка f (pjerfjekcyjanístka) Catalan: perfeccionista m or f Chinese: Mandarin: 完美主義者／完美主义者 (zh) (wánměi zhǔyì zhě) Czech: perfekcionista m, perfekcionistka f Danish: perfektionist c Dutch: perfectionist (nl) m, perfectioniste f Estonian: perfektsionist, täiuslikkuseihaleja Finnish: perfektionisti (fi) French: perfectionniste (fr) m or f German: Perfektionist (de) m, Perfektionistin (de) f Greek: τελειομανής (el) m or f (teleiomanís), τελειοθήρας m (teleiothíras) Hungarian: maximalista Icelandic: fullkomnunarsinni m Italian: perfezionista (it) m or f Japanese: 完全主義者 (かんぜんしゅぎしゃ, kanzenshugisha), 完璧主義者 (かんぺきしゅぎしゃ, kanpekishugisha) Kannada: ಪರಿಪೂರ್ಣತಾವಾದಿ (kn) (paripūrṇatāvādi), ಪರಿ ಪೂರ್ಣತಾಕಾಂಕ್ಷಿ (kn) (pari pūrṇatākāṅkṣi), ಪರಿಪೂರ್ಣತಾನ್ವೇಷಕ (kn) (paripūrṇatānvēṣaka) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: (please verify) tekûzkar (ku) Malayalam: പൂർണ്ണതാവാദി (pūṟṇṇatāvādi) Norwegian: Bokmål: perfeksjonist (no) m Nynorsk: perfeksjonist m Polish: perfekcjonista (pl) m, perfekcjonistka f Portuguese: perfeccionista m or f Romanian: perfecționist (ro) m, perfecționistă (ro) f Russian: перфекциони́ст (ru) m (perfekcioníst), перфекциони́стка f (perfekcionístka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: перфекцио̀нист m, перфекцио̀нистица f Roman: perfekciònist (sh) m, perfekciònistica (sh) f Slovak: perfekcionista m, perfekcionistka f Spanish: perfeccionista (es) m or f Swedish: perfektionist (sv) c Turkish: mükemmeliyetçi (tr) Ukrainian: перфекціоні́ст m (perfekcioníst), перфекціоні́стка f (perfekcionístka)

Adjective

perfectionist (comparative more perfectionist, superlative most perfectionist)

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

   perfectionistic parents

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:perfectionist.
2. (philosophy) Inclined or related to perfectionism.

Translations

inclined or related to perfectionism

Arabic: كَمَالِيّ‎ (kamāliyy) Catalan: perfeccionista Czech: perfekcionistický Danish: perfektionistisk Dutch: perfectionistisch (nl) Finnish: perfektionistinen French: perfectionniste (fr) German: perfektionistisch (de) Hungarian: maximalista Italian: perfezionista (it), perfezionistico Polish: perfekcjonistyczny Portuguese: perfeccionista Romanian: perfecționist (ro) Russian: перфекциони́стский (ru) (perfekcionístskij) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: перфекционѝстичкӣ Roman: perfekcionìstičkī (sh) Spanish: perfeccionista (es)