adverb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
absolutely/perfectly clear
▪ His answer was perfectly clear.
absolutely/perfectly/entirely correct (=completely correct)
▪ What he said was perfectly correct.
fitted...perfectly
▪ The uniform fitted her perfectly.
know perfectly well/full well/only too well
▪ He knew full well that what he was doing was dangerous.
match exactly/closely/perfectly
▪ The copy closely matches the original.
perfectly acceptable
▪ It is perfectly acceptable to sample the food before you buy.
perfectly balanced
▪ Nature is perfectly balanced.
perfectly flat
▪ a perfectly flat sandy beach
perfectly legitimate
▪ That’s a perfectly legitimate question.
perfectly manicured
▪ slim, perfectly manicured fingers
perfectly natural (=not surprising)
▪ It was a perfectly natural mistake to make.
perfectly normal (=completely normal)
▪ Her reaction to the news was perfectly normal.
perfectly rational
▪ I'm sure there's a perfectly rational explanation.
perfectly sane (=completely sane)
▪ He seems perfectly sane to me.
perfectly simple
▪ Well? It’s a perfectly simple question.
perfectly suitable (=completely suitable)
▪ The programme is perfectly suitable for children of all ages.
perfectly understandable
▪ He just can’t face anyone at the moment, which is perfectly understandable.
perfectly valid
▪ It's a perfectly valid question.
perfectly/entirely reasonable (also eminently reasonableformal) (= completely reasonable)
▪ The proposal sounds perfectly reasonable.
perfectly/quite possible (=definitely possible)
▪ Combining a family with a career is perfectly possible .
perfectly/quite satisfactory
▪ For a small amount of cream, a wire whisk is perfectly satisfactory.
quite/perfectly willing
▪ I told them I was perfectly willing to help.
quite/very/perfectly properly
▪ People are, quite properly, proud of their homes.
suit sb perfectly
▪ The arrangement suited me perfectly.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
acceptable
▪ Styles of dress which are perfectly acceptable at home may be offensive to local inhabitants or may be banned altogether.
▪ But if there is no punishment, it is perfectly acceptable to tell lies.
▪ However, although words considered in a local context may seem perfectly acceptable in the sentential context these combinations may be unlikely.
▪ This was perfectly acceptable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; it was not at all acceptable to the court.
▪ A fair amount is conducted by ministerial correspondence, a perfectly acceptable method in constitutional terms.
▪ Frozen duck is perfectly acceptable, but-as with most products-fresh is preferred.
▪ If the seller has left himself negotiating room, then this may be perfectly acceptable.
▪ Celibacy is perfectly acceptable, although rare.
adequate
▪ However, lower your aural sights a little and £200 - £300 will get you a perfectly adequate operator.
▪ The rest will be moved on to a perfectly adequate out-of-town portal site with ads that flash and jitter.
▪ Other requirements: Light: Appreciates good light from above and all round, though light from above is perfectly adequate.
▪ It is possible to subscribe to an updating service, but adopting your own scheme is perfectly adequate and is not expensive.
▪ The address book is an odd addition, given that the database is perfectly adequate for fulfilling this need.
▪ Boot space is perfectly adequate quite shallow but long.
▪ This can make the conventional approach perfectly adequate for some systems development work.
▪ Ardmore's runway is more generously dimensioned and better levelled than North Shore's but North Shore is perfectly adequate too.
capable
▪ She knew that I was perfectly capable of having the whole thing made in black leatherette if left to my own devices.
▪ They were perfectly capable of turning the same firepower on me as they used on my customers.
▪ It is perfectly capable of wiping out even the largest enemy unit.
▪ An informed public is perfectly capable of deciding whether contributions accepted by a lawmaker should disqualify him or her from office.
▪ She was perfectly capable of running her own firm - she simply made a reasoned choice not to.
▪ And Lucy was perfectly capable of saying do stay the night.
▪ He knew Ellen was with her and was perfectly capable of tracking down their whereabouts.
▪ Since they are pure-bred cells, they are perfectly capable of meiosis.
clear
▪ The course of this important trackway across sheet 145 is perfectly clear.
▪ The air outside was perfectly clear, though the windows were filthy.
▪ Make it perfectly clear you are neutral and totally disinterested.
▪ And on the pennant, perfectly clear, the single letter: W, for Winslow.
▪ The prospective meaning of to is thus perfectly clear in this use.
▪ The meaning of the play's unusual title will become perfectly clear to the audience, says director Dan Maher.
▪ It was perfectly clear that Alexander Vass considered her remark to be a gross impertinence.
▪ From the tone of his voice, it was perfectly clear that his decision was not open to negotiation.
competitive
▪ In a perfectly competitive industry, the market solves two connected problems.
▪ And a difference between price and marginal cost can make behavior very different from that in a perfectly competitive model.
▪ Unfortunately from this point of view not all industries are perfectly competitive.
▪ Our concern in this chapter is with the functioning of perfectly competitive markets.
▪ In practice, the conditions for perfectly competitive labour and product markets do not apply.
▪ Suppose that the union lifts the level of wages above the perfectly competitive market clearing wage, thus creating some unemployment.
▪ Each market is a free, unregulated market and is perfectly competitive.
▪ The neo-classical view is that a perfectly competitive economy always tends towards its full employment equilibrium position.
content
▪ A rabbit which up to that time may have been perfectly content to sit it out suddenly has more grounds for fear.
▪ It was a hangout of the privileged classes, smug, snobbish, and perfectly content to remain small.
▪ The rest of the band appeared perfectly content to let this happen.
▪ The larger southern Episcopal element was perfectly content to keep bishops three thousand miles away.
▪ She was perfectly content and regarded the liberated woman as a creature to be pitied.
▪ The baby was lying on his back in his crib, perfectly content.
▪ But she told me she would have been perfectly content if they had not taken this course.
▪ Until then he appeared perfectly content with his placid existence.
flat
▪ The lower cut must be perfectly flat and angled to match the oblique cut on the rootstock.
▪ You saw a perfectly flat, formless nothing.
▪ Don't be over-concerned if the ground in front of you doesn't seem perfectly flat.
▪ The surface need not be perfectly flat or smooth.
▪ Make sure the lining is lying perfectly flat and smooth against blind fabric and square to it.
▪ I can flood the paper using this frame and be sure that once dry it will return to a perfectly flat surface.
good
▪ There is a perfectly good way of doing so on television.
▪ There is a perfectly good answer to that question, it only takes a moment to think of it.
▪ Ram a couple of kidneys into a perfectly good bottle of vodka, and give it to him.
▪ Apart from providing her with an excuse to respond to his card, the idea in itself was a perfectly good one.
▪ Sony's is perfectly good, but the voices are further forward and the orchestra has a less sumptuous bloom.
▪ All this space and they get to shit on a perfectly good balcony?
▪ This makes perfectly good sense, that that understanding is organically linked to their studies.
▪ Some of them, in fact, were perfectly good.
happy
▪ The hospitals are the ones that introduced this legislation, and they are perfectly happy with the review process.
▪ She had been perfectly happy at Group.
▪ He was perfectly happy to stand apart from his colleagues.
▪ Those perfectly happy in their affections never read novels, because real love is so much more fascinating than that described.
▪ I told myself he was no sick cat, but I could see that he was not perfectly happy.
▪ Bruno felt perfectly happy in that bed; he seemed to forget all his worries.
▪ He looks perfectly happy, his past and future far away on this festive afternoon.
healthy
▪ She looked perfectly healthy, but Frankie was not convinced.
▪ He denied that perfectly healthy horses make it to slaughter because he can make more by reselling to somebody else.
▪ Given just one type of seed, they would always eat it and be perfectly healthy.
▪ But necrotizing fasciitis can strike perfectly healthy, fastidious people as well.
▪ However, one of them disappeared overnight, after being perfectly healthy during the day.
▪ Yes, but this is not the explanation in many cases, where the animal is perfectly healthy in all other respects.
▪ This does not necessarily mean sick animals - many are perfectly healthy, just unwanted.
▪ A kidney, thought to be perfectly healthy was transplanted into a patient on chronic dialysis.
legal
▪ If you still have concerns about confidentiality, you can take the test using a false name - this is perfectly legal.
▪ All of this, by the way, was perfectly legal.
▪ Killigrew protested that his first marriage, at least, that to Mary, had been perfectly legal.
▪ But production of such cosmetics for export remains perfectly legal.
▪ Everything was perfectly legal and aboveboard.
▪ As these metals came from natural sources, such a move was perfectly legal.
▪ She uses perfectly legal ways to gather public information about the homes that many Washington insiders like to keep secret.
legitimate
▪ The Bucharest police force sees its action as perfectly legitimate.
▪ Or was there a perfectly legitimate explanation?
▪ Elwood was carried off after a perfectly legitimate but massive hit delivered by the Springbok centre.
▪ But when the culprits were identified, it turned out that their activities were perfectly legitimate, if a little unusual.
▪ It is perfectly legitimate for the police to have that information.
▪ This may be perfectly legitimate but not all problems can be referred away. 2 Refer the parents for marriage guidance counselling.
▪ This is a perfectly legitimate inductive inference.
▪ Their function is to supply realism or local colour, and for these purposes their use is perfectly legitimate.
natural
▪ It wasn't strange, but perfectly natural to be in Sien's company, her and the children.
▪ It seemed perfectly natural that the centre and bow areas of our raft were permanently awash.
▪ This is, as Morrissey well knows, a perfectly natural human condition.
▪ Both Duvall and Jones have reached that level of acting where it all seems perfectly natural.
▪ It was all perfectly natural, or should have been.
▪ Pregnancy is a perfectly natural physical state, remember?
▪ But Mr Mellor said it was a perfectly natural request to make.
▪ Morrissey and Marr found songwriting easy and perfectly natural.
normal
▪ A case of perfectly normal metastasis.
▪ My information processing is perfectly normal.
▪ It's despair that perfectly normal young men can be made vicious and evil because they've won a lot of money.
▪ Casper says they had a perfectly normal conversation.
▪ This is perfectly normal when the body goes through the physiological changes which are often brought about by the Technique.
▪ Peter was just two at the time, a perfectly normal child.
▪ But given heavy doses of baking soda he began to recover, and was perfectly normal three days later.
▪ I had told myself I was going to have a perfectly normal day.
obvious
▪ That was perfectly obvious from the start.
▪ I responded, stating what I thought should be perfectly obvious to my father, and turned to reenter our building.
▪ It is perfectly obvious that the choices made by creative social actors are limited by the practical resources available to them.
▪ It was perfectly obvious that Mr Schofield had gone for good.
▪ Why the classic novel should have collaborated with the spirit of capitalism is perfectly obvious to Robyn.
▪ That's perfectly obvious to anyone, isn't it?
▪ It was perfectly obvious he had already been active in discussing the matter on everybody's mind.
▪ It was perfectly obvious from the accounts that the company was in deep trouble.
ordinary
▪ It was a perfectly ordinary leg from a shop dummy.
▪ Here, the perversions are perfectly ordinary ones.
▪ They appear perfectly ordinary under normal light, but disappear under flash photography.
▪ She is in fact perfectly ordinary, with nothing to distinguish her from a thousand others.
▪ There would be, without a doubt, some perfectly ordinary explanation.
▪ They looked perfectly ordinary, and they turned in through the gates and went up the drive.
▪ At dinner in the garden one evening, for instance, two perfectly ordinary businessmen suddenly burst into a Verdi duet.
▪ An expensive handbag lay on the table, and she was reading the morning paper in a perfectly ordinary way.
possible
▪ Similarly, it is perfectly possible for John to have examined the legs of the table.
▪ Even more extreme interpretations are perfectly possible in the courts.
▪ It is, of course, perfectly possible for a sentence to exhibit semantic and grammatical deviance simultaneously: 7.
▪ It is perfectly possible to replace the hot spots in a Land Rover cylinder head.
▪ That seemed to me to be taken for granted and perfectly possible.
▪ But that would be perfectly possible without delaying Mrs. Bidwell's arrival.
▪ On paper this may sound like splitting hairs, but in practice it is perfectly possible to make the difference clear.
▪ It is perfectly possible to conceive of groups or individuals who have power without actually ruling in the official, visible sense.
proper
▪ It seemed, after all, a perfectly proper arrangement and one that was, in a way, almost professional.
▪ There is a perfectly proper sense in which the lung-fish endeavoured to regain the water.
▪ His letters of 24 July 1970, and 28 October 1970, were perfectly proper.
▪ This sense has a perfectly proper use in science.
▪ That seemed to me to be a perfectly proper use of what the company had to offer.
▪ Consequently, the idea began to spread that it was perfectly proper for Christians to be involved with pop and rock music.
▪ All hon. Members understand why that was a perfectly proper arrangement.
reasonable
▪ It would be perfectly reasonable for the police to check their address and details such as car ownership on the computer.
▪ These are perfectly reasonable questions, after all, you will be paying the bills.
▪ Tinfoil Barbs would be perfectly reasonable.
▪ She said the news clippings she sent to friends were a perfectly reasonable way to correspond.
▪ Whatever the cause of the delay, the solicitor should answer your perfectly reasonable request for an explanation.
▪ I could be perfectly reasonable up to a point, but Cynthia Kay had gone too far.
▪ It would be perfectly reasonable to keep them all in the same genus.
▪ To my mind, it was an unreasonable expectation, but to theirs, it was only natural and perfectly reasonable.
safe
▪ So for the trick to work the parent must always be perfectly safe.
▪ When we arrived at a perfectly safe position, we halted to take an account of damages.
▪ Basic butane picnic stoves are a perfectly safe, reliable and inexpensive choice for mild weather trips.
▪ I think he decided the jewels were perfectly safe right where they were.
▪ As for the 1991 cruising season, most of the Med is still perfectly safe to visit.
▪ The point is, of course, that for hundreds of years the villages have been perfectly safe.
▪ Maggie realised that she felt perfectly safe with him.
▪ The descent, like a big dipper, is exhilarating but perfectly safe.
satisfactory
▪ For a small amount of cream a wire whisk is perfectly satisfactory and just as quick as an electric beater.
▪ It is a perfectly satisfactory word processor but lacks the sparkle of many of the currently available rivals.
▪ This sounds unattractive but is perfectly satisfactory in use.
▪ I believe that it is possible to have a perfectly satisfactory single market without a single currency.
simple
▪ There's a perfectly simple method of proving this.
▪ This was supposed to be an upper-level class, and the students seemed unable to interpret a perfectly simple text.
▪ Paul's murder, if it is murder, is perfectly simple.
▪ There had to be a perfectly simple explanation to all this - if only she could think what it was.
▪ The chances are we shall turn up some perfectly simple motive.
▪ These facts were undisputed and one might have supposed the case to be a perfectly simple and straight forward one.
▪ He loved her and trusted her understanding - and that made the choice perfectly simple after all.
▪ It is all perfectly simple, and delightfully automatic and unpremeditated.
true
▪ It is perfectly true that modern factory-farming can sometimes be accused of engendering cruelty, waste, pollution and unsafe foods.
▪ Nevertheless, although generalizations arrived at by legitimate inductions can not be guaranteed to be perfectly true, they are probably true.
▪ It is perfectly true that Blake did have a battery-operated radio in his cell which worked on medium and long waves only.
▪ It is perfectly true - for this hotel is also an antique shop.
▪ It is perfectly true that an ad is useless if no one notices it.
▪ And actually that was perfectly true.
▪ Now it is perfectly true that some families remained in the same district for hundreds of years.
▪ All this is, of course, perfectly true.
understandable
▪ For example, the speech we hear over a telephone line is perfectly understandable.
▪ This idolatrous crowd postulates an ideal worthy of itself and appropriate to its nature, that is perfectly understandable.
▪ That's perfectly understandable, but it's not good sense.
▪ Some at least of the leading Romans felt and behaved in a way which seemed to him perfectly understandable and eminently sensible.
▪ This is perfectly understandable if in fact after passives the to infinitive evokes a mental construct.
▪ In terms of his own situation and interests this attitude is perfectly understandable.
▪ This clause appears perfectly understandable from the viewpoint of a supplier of drivers.
▪ That was perfectly understandable, because what we were proposing was so essentially and uniquely horrible.
valid
▪ The time ranges associated with these compositions are rather approximate, but are in general still perfectly valid.
▪ One is of course free to do so, and from certain perspectives, it is perfectly valid to do so.
▪ Perhaps women choose this style because it fits with their own, perfectly valid interactional or social goals.
▪ This is a perfectly valid deduction.
▪ But consent by a person in Hobbes's state of nature can be perfectly valid.
▪ That argument, by the way, I am not rejecting; it is a perfectly valid response.
▪ But it still didn't stop me having a perfectly valid opinion on the parlous state of contemporary kits.
well
▪ Equally, the embassies know perfectly well that all their signals traffic is monitored.
■ VERB
balance
▪ Natasha gazed at her with an expression in which caution and disdain were perfectly balanced.
▪ You rarely see that people are perfectly balanced on these.
▪ A rudderless boat must be perfectly balanced if it is to follow a straight course.
▪ It is perfectly balanced to satisfy a growing appetite.
▪ Balancing basic food ingredients Grass is not perfectly balanced for all types of horses all year round either.
fit
▪ They always fit perfectly, look painted on, and some have caused quite a furore in the past.
▪ The martini perfectly fits the bill because of its simplicity.
▪ John Bowes perfectly fits that bill.
▪ His cerebral sound fits perfectly with the cool musings of Mulligan and Baker.
▪ They had altered the dress so that it fitted perfectly.
▪ The roll fits perfectly well if you stand it on the roller and lean it against the wall.
▪ Until that moment Sabour had seemed to fit perfectly into the demoralized atmosphere of the classroom.
form
▪ It had small but perfectly formed rear limbs projecting a few inches from its body.
▪ They were perfectly formed, with no blemishes, no insect or fungus damage.
▪ His voice was sonorous, and long, flourished sentences came from his mouth perfectly formed.
▪ A perfectly formed loaf brings the same satisfaction to its baker as does a perfectly thrown pot to a potter.
▪ Women and children were lined up in a half-circle facing an old, perfectly formed oak tree.
▪ Did Mrs Dumas see a smile on a perfectly formed little man as he fell into her pail?
▪ The exposed hands of the Saint, only slightly darker than normal, appear perfectly formed.
▪ The hairdo displayed her ears, which were almost perfectly formed except for the one minor asymmetry that hardly anyone noticed.
know
▪ I knew perfectly well when I allowed Karen Parsons to seduce me that I was not acting rightly.
▪ The members know perfectly well that they will be beaten over the head with any yes vote at the next election.
▪ You know perfectly well I can't.
▪ Fong knew perfectly well that he had 632 shillings ninepence only in the bank and that the cheque would bounce.
▪ In everyday life we talk about things being good and bad, and we know perfectly well what we mean.
▪ I knew perfectly well that I had anorexia, but I did not see it as something pathological.
▪ She said it all, knowing perfectly well none of it was heard, and then she slept a little.
▪ Hera knew perfectly well that there was a reason for this odd occurrence, and instantly suspected her husband.
match
▪ Crossover distortion is actually due to the fact that the two halves of the circuit are not perfectly matched.
▪ Computerised records ensure that colours are perfectly matched on return visits.
▪ Everything matched perfectly, even her pink beads.
▪ Their brown colouration perfectly matches the decaying leaves around them, their blotches and lines disrupt their outlines.
▪ Whether stylish laminate, natural wood or high-gloss finish, the Miele Specialist can tailor a kitchen to perfectly match your requirements.
▪ The simplest method of all, where body concealment is concerned, is to match perfectly the colour of the background.
▪ Her gorgeously drowsy voice is perfectly matched to shimmering, twilight atmospherics.
▪ The girl friendly school Unfortunately the pattern of option choice and attitude differences is not perfectly matched within each school.
seem
▪ However, although words considered in a local context may seem perfectly acceptable in the sentential context these combinations may be unlikely.
▪ It seemed perfectly natural that the centre and bow areas of our raft were permanently awash.
▪ For the watching world, she smiled and laughed, seeming perfectly delighted with her husband and newfound status.
▪ Still, given our fondness for gunning each other down, fearing the sight of blood seems perfectly sound.
▪ He seems perfectly at home here, with the rest of the house all quiet, and he's clearly been busy.
▪ Both Duvall and Jones have reached that level of acting where it all seems perfectly natural.
▪ Don't be over-concerned if the ground in front of you doesn't seem perfectly flat.
▪ And it somehow seemed perfectly coordinated with the stadium, the ground, early evening and the four of us.
suit
▪ They are thus perfectly suited to the analysis of our beliefs about causal chains or sequences.
▪ I used the bike extensively around London and it was perfectly suited to dealing the city's often poor roads.
▪ Declan McGonagle has a background perfectly suited to his new post as director of the museum.
▪ The heavy boughs and dark leaves of the copper beech that spread over the drive perfectly suited her mood of despair.
▪ The role of Logan is perfectly suited to Kingsley's gifts for control and stillness.
▪ She had the confidence to go for something outside her immediate experience, but which she was perfectly suited to.
understand
▪ She ruled out topical references and jokes, understanding perfectly that her executive producer was incapable of appreciating either.
▪ Had there been a language in which we could have made ourselves perfectly understood, we would have left them all Christians.
▪ I did not understand perfectly what the connection was but I felt guilt was involved - and a sense of obligation.
▪ People were screaming at each other without using words, and everyone understood perfectly.
▪ A procedure which anyone with any pretensions to correct behaviour would perfectly understand.
▪ We are of sound mind and understand perfectly well that if we attack you, you will respond the same way.
▪ I understand perfectly your desire for anonymity.
▪ I understood perfectly well what Jack was saying.
will
▪ They were perfectly willing to have a convoy 2 miles long wait while they pedaled across these bridges.
work
▪ What is interesting about Michel Blanc's movie is that much of it works perfectly well.
▪ Many people are unaware of the recall because the bikes can work perfectly before the crank suddenly breaks off.
▪ Some bisexual relationships work perfectly well as long as everyone knows the score.
▪ All the other sounds worked perfectly, including a nifty series of sound clips, from toilets to submarines.
▪ Nothing in psychology hopes ever to work perfectly.
▪ Simple suction is out, because gecko feet work perfectly, even in a vacuum.
▪ No researcher is so wise that all plans work perfectly.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be well/ideally/perfectly positioned
best/well/ideally/perfectly etc suited to/for sth
▪ Boar chops are best suited to grilling or sauteing.
▪ If I were a free agent, those are the places I would go, a place best suited for my needs.
▪ It is not however so well suited to an intensive, detailed study of spoken language.
▪ Nevertheless, it is an early maturing variety well suited to the long ripening period of a northern wine region.
▪ Secondly, the adversary nature of the adjudicative process may not be well suited to this area.
▪ The farmer's wife was well suited to tackling this considerable undertaking.
▪ Use the systems best suited to their talent, both offensively and defensively.
▪ We have large quantities of plutonium already separated and in forms ideally suited for nuclear weapons.
know full/perfectly well
▪ I know perfectly well that metastases are not just a characteristic of malignant cells, spreading from organ to organ.
▪ In everyday life we talk about things being good and bad, and we know perfectly well what we mean.
▪ Oh, I glory in inconsistencies, as you know full well.
▪ Ought we to think less of Johnson for agreeing because he knew full well that he could influence Boswell?
▪ She knew perfectly well he didn't trust her.
▪ The public know full well that the Labour party taxes and spends, taxes and spends.
▪ You know perfectly well I can't.
▪ You know perfectly well that women get depressed at - at certain times.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ After two years in Spain, Kate spoke the language perfectly.
▪ He was perfectly dressed in a dark suit and tie.
▪ She's always perfectly dressed.
▪ The airplane was standing perfectly still.
▪ The coffee machine seems to work perfectly now.
▪ They're not welcome here. We made that perfectly clear.
▪ They had thrown out a perfectly good stereo.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ His beautiful dark-gray suit hung on his trim body, perfectly.
▪ Not only did it work perfectly, but the output was indistinguishable from the 550C.
▪ Or was there a perfectly legitimate explanation?
▪ People were screaming at each other without using words, and everyone understood perfectly.
▪ Some bisexual relationships work perfectly well as long as everyone knows the score.
▪ There would be, without a doubt, some perfectly ordinary explanation.
▪ This is awkward, for no regulation works perfectly or does quite what it was meant to.
▪ This is, as Morrissey well knows, a perfectly natural human condition.