PERFECTLY


Meaning of PERFECTLY in English

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 reasonable formal ) (= 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.

Longman DOCE5 Extras English vocabulary.      Дополнительный английский словарь Longman DOCE5.