Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

perfectionist

/pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.89 in modern English

Syllables: per-fec-tion-ist
IPA: /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/

20

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

4

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.

noun

Someone who thinks that religious or moral perfection can be attained in this life.

Archaic

noun

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.

American usage

adj

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

adj

Inclined or related to perfectionism.

Example Sentences

"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 […]."
"perfectionistic parents"
"For quotations using this term, see Citations:perfectionist."

Etymology

Etymology tree English perfection Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English perfectionist From perfection + -ist.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/

Usage

Archaic
American usage

Inflected Forms

perfectionists (plural) more perfectionist (comparative) most perfectionist (superlative)

Frequently Paired Words

perfectionism perfectionistic

Questions

How do you pronounce perfectionist?: The recorded pronunciation is /pɚˈfɛk.ʃənɪst/.
What does perfectionist mean?: Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards.
Where does perfectionist come from?: Etymology tree English perfection Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English perfectionist From perfection + -ist.

How to pronounce perfectionist

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