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:

     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 (cs) 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 (hu)
• 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)
• Korean: 완벽주의자(完璧主義者) (wanbyeokjuuija)
• 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 (hu)
• 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)

Dutch

Etymology

By surface analysis, French perfection +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /pɛrˌfɛk.ʃoːˈnɪst/, /ˌpɛr.fɛk.ʃoːˈnɪst/, /pər-/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /pɛr.fɛk.s(i.)joːˈnɪst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: per‧fec‧ti‧o‧nist
• Rhymes: -ɪst

Noun

perfectionist m (plural perfectionisten, diminutive perfectionistje n, feminine perfectioniste)

1. perfectionist

Derived terms

• perfectionistisch

 

Related terms

• perfect
• perfectie
• perfectioneren
• perfectionisme