Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adverb In a perfect manner or to a perfect degree.
  • adverb To a complete or full degree or extent; wholly.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a perfect manner; wholly; completely; entirely; thoroughly; altogether; quite: as, the matter is not perfectly clear; the coat is perfectly new.
  • With the highest degree of thoroughness or excellence; in such a way as to leave nothing to be desired: as, she dances perfectly; he speaks the language perfectly.
  • With great exactness, nicety, or precision; accurately; exactly: as, a perfectly adjusted or balanced contrivance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb In a perfect manner or degree; in or to perfection; completely; wholly; throughly; faultlessly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb With perfection.
  • adverb Wholly, adequately.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
  • adverb in a perfect or faultless way

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

perfect +‎ -ly

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Examples

  • There's also the danger of idealizing a platonic ideal game as being "perfectly balanced" when it's actually been suggested that a game, especially an MMO may not want to be *perfectly* balanced at all, as you might reduce all strategies to being equally effective and therefore uninteresting.

    Plato’s game 2007

  • "Look here," cried Lashmar, standing before her with his hands in his pockets, "you know perfectly well -- _perfectly well_ -- that, if I accept this offer, you'll think the worse of me."

    Our Friend the Charlatan George Gissing 1880

  • That is perfectly understood, Your Excellency, _perfectly_ understood. "

    Charred Wood Francis Clement Kelley 1909

  • Feel soft as downy pillows are '-- and thought they were not strictly true; but now I know that they are perfectly, _perfectly_ so. "

    Canadian Wild Flowers 1848

  • An intelligent correspondent of mine makes the following valuable remarks on the preservation of Ipecacuanha Wine: -- "Now, I know that there are some medicines and chemical preparations which, though they spoil rapidly when at all exposed to the air, yet will keep perfectly good for an indefinite time if hermetically sealed up in a _perfectly full_ bottle.

    Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children Pye Henry Chavasse 1844

  • So the title perfectly fits exactly how I feel about him.

    Killing Bono, Not Quite a U2 Biopic, to Begin Filming | /Film 2010

  • And even though the title perfectly captures what's between the covers -- The Naked Truth About Sex: A Guide to Intelligent Sexual Choices for Teenagers and Twentysomethings -- it is apparently so dangerous in America to acknowledge that teenagers have sexual feelings and behaviors that few media outlets are willing to risk bringing attention to it.

    The Naked Truth About Sex Ed 2006

  • Not only was the word perfectly distinct, but it was clearly pronounced in the English way, with the accent on the second syllable.

    The Pawprints of History STANLEY COREN 2002

  • Not only was the word perfectly distinct, but it was clearly pronounced in the English way, with the accent on the second syllable.

    The Pawprints of History STANLEY COREN 2002

  • Not only was the word perfectly distinct, but it was clearly pronounced in the English way, with the accent on the second syllable.

    The Pawprints of History STANLEY COREN 2002

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