The Collaborative International Dictionary
Perfect \Per"fect\, a. [OE. parfit, OF. parfit, parfet, parfait, F. parfait, L. perfectus, p. p. of perficere to carry to the end, to perform, finish, perfect; per (see Per-) + facere to make, do. See Fact.]
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Brought to consummation or completeness; completed; not defective nor redundant; having all the properties or qualities requisite to its nature and kind; without flaw, fault, or blemish; without error; mature; whole; pure; sound; right; correct.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
--2 Cor. xii. 9.Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun.
--Shak.I fear I am not in my perfect mind.
--Shak.O most entire perfect sacrifice!
--Keble.God made thee perfect, not immutable.
--Milton. -
Well informed; certain; sure.
I am perfect that the Pannonains are now in arms.
--Shak. -
(Bot.) Hermaphrodite; having both stamens and pistils; -- said of flower.
Perfect cadence (Mus.), a complete and satisfactory close in harmony, as upon the tonic preceded by the dominant.
Perfect chord (Mus.), a concord or union of sounds which is perfectly coalescent and agreeable to the ear, as the unison, octave, fifth, and fourth; a perfect consonance; a common chord in its original position of keynote, third, fifth, and octave.
Perfect number (Arith.), a number equal to the sum of all its divisors; as, 28, whose aliquot parts, or divisors, are 14, 7, 4, 2, 1. See Abundant number, under Abundant.
--Brande & C.Perfect tense (Gram.), a tense which expresses an act or state completed.
Syn: Finished; consummate; complete; entire; faultless; blameless; unblemished.
Usage examples of "perfect chord".
It is better, since we must part for ever, that we should do so, as in music, on a perfect chord.
Until that Neptunian roiling of a single note seemed overcome, or at least convinced and enfolded, by the rejoicing hallelujahs of those who opposed it, and all dissolved on a majestic and perfect chord and on a resupine neuma.
If only she had the power to become that symbol once again, that perfect chord everyone would vibrate to.
If one appropriate thing happens, it wakes us up like the pang of a perfect chord.
To a reader with a passion for history, Morse's choice strikes the perfect chord -- it recognizes the power of small moments and, more importantly, that the real seeds of historical change often lie in the symbolic significance of events more than in their immediate material effects.