different between perfectionist vs perfectibilian

English

From perfection +? -ist.

perfectionist (plural perfectionists)

Someone who is unwilling to settle for anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards. [from 20th c.]
(philosophy, now rare) Someone who thinks that religious or moral perfection can be attained in this life. [from 17th c.]
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 116:
  I have read in some of our perfectionists enough to make a better man than myself either run into madness or despair about the grace you mention […].
(US, historical) One of the Bible Communists or Free-lovers, a small American sect founded by J. H. Noyes (1811-86), which settled at Oneida in 1848, holding that the gospel if accepted secures freedom from sin. [from 19th c.]

perfectionist (comparative more perfectionist, superlative most perfectionist)

Demanding perfection; being a perfectionist; imposing overly high standards.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:perfectionist.
(philosophy) Inclined or related to perfectionism.

perfectibilian (plural perfectibilians)

(archaic) A perfectionist.
- "There is, nevertheless, a definite sense in which he [Karl Marx] remained both a rationalist and a perfectibilian to the end of his life. Berlin, Isaiah (2013-11-10). Karl Marx (p. 28). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
(Can we find and add a quotation of Ed. Rev to this entry?)

Send