Word Confusion: Perfect versus Prefect

Gerund: perfecting

Third person present verb: perfects
Past tense or past participle: perfected
Present participle: perfecting

Plural: prefects

• As good as it is possible to be
• Free from any flaw or defect in condition or quality
• Faultless
• Precisely accurate
• Exact
• Highly suitable for someone or something
• Exactly right
• [Printing] Denoting a way of binding books in which pages are glued to the spine rather than sewn together
• [Dated] Thoroughly trained in or conversant with

[Attrib.] Absolute

• [Used for emphasis] Complete

[Mathematics; of a number] Equal to the sum of its positive divisors

[Grammar; of a verb tense] Denoting a completed action or a state or habitual action that began in the past

[Botany; of a flower] Having both stamens and carpels present and functional

• [Botany] Denoting the stage or state of a fungus in which the sexually produced spores are formed
• [Entomology; of an insect] Fully adult and (typically) winged

Noun:
[Grammar; the perfect] A verb form or construction in the perfect tense, including present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect

Verb, transitive:
Make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible

• [Archaic] Bring to completion
• Finish
• [Printing] To print the reverse of (a printed sheet)
• [Law] Satisfy the necessary conditions or requirements for the transfer of (a gift, title, etc.)

A chief officer, magistrate, or regional governor in certain countries ²

• A senior magistrate or governor in the ancient Roman world
• The chief of police of Paris, France
• A chief administrative official of a department of France
• The administrator in charge of discipline at a Jesuit school

[Automotive] A line of British cars produced by Ford UK between 1938 and 1961 as an upmarket version of the Ford Popular and Ford Anglia small family cars ³

It was a perfect summer’s day.

The equipment was in perfect condition.

She drew a perfect circle.

With a little help you can create a room that is perfect for you.

It’s the perfect present for golfers everywhere.

Perfect binding is a process, commonly used by printers and bookmakers, where groups of pages are bound together using adhesive to create a clean, crisp, and professional printed product.

She was perfect in French.

He was a perfect stranger.

All that Joseph said made perfect sense to me.

The number 6 is perfect, as its divisors (1, 2, 3) also add up to 6.

The perfect tense is formed in English with have or has and the past participle, as in they have eaten and they have been eating (since dawn) (present perfect), they had eaten (past perfect), and they will have eaten (future perfect).

The perfect flower, a.k.a. bisexual, has both stamens and pistils (Editors).

A phase in the life cycle of certain fungi in which sexual spores are formed, as the asci in the sexual stage of the ascomycetes it is referred to as the perfect stage.

Noun:
She has dressed for success.

They have gone out dancing.

He has been contemplating the sunrise as he fished.

They had eaten a glorious breakfast of sourdough French toast with strawberries and real maple syrup.

They will have been gone for a week.

Verb, transitive:
He’s busy perfecting his bowling technique.

Then urg’d, she perfects her illustrious toils.

The heap was normally printed as white paper in the morning, turned at the midday break, and perfected in the afternoon.

Equity will not perfect an imperfect gift.

Smythe is the new prefect of police.

Avitus was prefect of Gaul from AD 439.

“Bertram was appointed Prefect Apostolic of the new Mission” (Hundred).

“The College Prefect of Discipline within the schools collaborates with the school itself and with other professionals and external entities with the aim of providing needed services in relation to behavioural difficulties, thus promoting positive discipline based on the overarching principle of reciprocal respect” (College).

“There was Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whom Benedict appointed as his replacement as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and whom Francis later fired” (Horowitz).

Like its siblings, the Ford Prefect became a popular basis for a hot rod, especially in Britain, where its lightweight structure and four-cylinder engines appealed to builders.

1. Dates from the early 19th century.
2. From the Old French, from the Latin praefectus, past participle of praeficere meaning set in authority over, from prae (before) + facere (make).
3. A line of British cars firest produced by Ford UK in 1938.