perfectly

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UK/ˈpɜː.fɪk(t).li/US/ˈpɝ.fɪk(t).li//ˈpɑɹ.fɪk(t).lɪ/New Zealand/ˈpøː.fək(t).li/

adverb

With perfection.

“Their performance was perfectly fine.”

Opposite
CommonScrabble 19

Meanings

adverbperfectly (comparative more perfectly, superlative most perfectly)

comparative more perfectly · superlative most perfectly · alternative obsolete perfightly · alternative obsolete perfightlie

  1. With perfection.

    They completed the first series perfectly.

  2. Wholly, completely, totally.

    Their performance was perfectly fine.

    4 more examples

    The Gentiles would not perfectly relinquish all their Idols; so, they were persuaded to turne the Image of Jupiter with his thunderbolt to Christus crucifixus, and Venus and Cupid to the Madonna and her Babe.

    1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 6

    I was perfectly stunned. I sat and moistened my lips a little, but otherwise made no effort to do anything: my chest was in a pitiful state.

    1899, Knut Hamsun, “Part III”, in George Egerton [pseudonym; Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright], transl., Hunger […], London: Leonard Smithers and Co […], →OCLC, page 168

    James Milner's angled free-kick was headed on to the post by the tireless [Darren] Bent and [Frank] Lampard the opportunist was perfectly placed to stoop and head in from virtually on the goal-line.

    2011 November 12, “International friendly: England 1 – 0 Spain”, in BBC Sport

    The route taken does not have to be a perfectly straight line, just so long as it is linear and is followed consistently for each transect taken.

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 4

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbcompletely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers

adverbin a perfect or faultless way

Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Englishperfect
  2. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  3. Proto-Germanic*līką
  4. Englishperfectly

From perfect + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek εἰς ὄνυχα
  • εἰς ὄνυχα (eis ónukha)with perfection
Arabic بِإِتْقَان, تَمَامًا
  • بِإِتْقَان (biʔitqān)with perfection
  • تَمَامًا (tamāman)with perfection
Bulgarian отли́чно, съвърше́но
  • отли́чно (otlíčno)with perfection
  • съвърше́но (săvăršéno)wholly, completely
Catalan perfectament
  • perfectamentwith perfection
Czech dokonale
  • dokonalewith perfection
Dutch perfect
  • perfectwith perfection
Esperanto perfekte
  • perfektewith perfection
Finnish täydellisesti, täysin
  • täydellisestiwith perfection
  • täysinwholly, completely
  • täydellisenwholly, completely
  • kaikin puolinwholly, completely
French parfaitement
  • parfaitementwith perfection
German perfekt, einwandfrei
  • perfektwith perfection
  • einwandfreiwith perfection
  • vollkommenwholly, completely
  • durchauswholly, completely
Greek τέλεια
  • τέλεια (téleia)with perfection
Hungarian tökéletesen
  • tökéletesenwith perfection
Italian perfettamente, propriamente
  • perfettamentewith perfection
  • propriamentewith perfection
  • totalmentewholly, completely
Latin perfectē, ad unguem
  • perfectēwith perfection
  • ad unguemwith perfection
Norwegian perfekt
  • perfektwith perfection
Polish doskonale, kompletnie
  • doskonalewith perfection
  • kompletniewholly, completely
Portuguese perfeitamente, perfeitamente
  • perfeitamentewith perfection
  • perfeitamentewholly, completely
Russian отли́чно, прекра́сно
  • отли́чно (otlíčno)with perfection
  • прекра́сно (prekrásno)with perfection
  • безупре́чно (bezupréčno)with perfection
  • в соверше́нстве (v soveršénstve)with perfection
  • безукори́зненно (bezukoríznenno)with perfection
  • соверше́нно (soveršénno)wholly, completely
  • по́лностью (pólnostʹju)wholly, completely
  • целико́м (celikóm)wholly, completely
  • абсолю́тно (absoljútno)wholly, completely
Slovak dokonale
  • dokonalewith perfection
Spanish perfectamente, perfectamente
  • perfectamentewith perfection
  • perfectamentewholly, completely
Swedish perfekt
  • perfektwith perfection
Ukrainian бездога́нно, відмі́нно
  • бездога́нно (bezdohánno)with perfection
  • відмі́нно (vidmínno)with perfection
  • цілко́м (cilkóm)wholly, completely
  • цілкови́то (cilkovýto)wholly, completely
  • абсолю́тно (absoljútno)wholly, completely
Cite this entry
APA

perfectly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfectly

MLA

“perfectly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfectly. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “perfectly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfectly.

Source: perfectly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.