Dictionary

perfectibility en · NOUN

Etymology

From perfect + -ibility.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The possibility of achieving perfection.
   • Thus it was that I beheld, as never before, the awful unreality called evil. The equipollence of God brought to light another glorious proposition, — man’s perfectibility and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth. 1906, Mary Baker Eddy, “Chapter VI — Science, Theology, Medicine”, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Science_and_Health_with_Key_to_the_Scriptures_(1906).djvu/126), Harper and Row, page 110:
   • In their evangelical zeal, crusaders relied upon a message of the essential morality of cleanliness, a message that was especially effective in stirring religious sentiment and that meshed well with evolutionary models of human perfectibility that were prevalent in the sciences. 2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page 110:
   • In a project involving many people, maintainability is a more useful asset than perfectibility.
2. (countable, uncountable) Perfectionism.

Forms

Deriveds

perfectibilist

Translations (6)

ro perfectibilitate (the possibility of achieving perfection) · de Vervollkommnungsfähigkeit (the possibility of achieving perfection) · de Perfektibilität (the possibility of achieving perfection) · fr perfectibilité (the possibility of achieving perfection) · pl możliwość osiągnięcia perfekcji (the possibility of achieving perfection) · it perfezionabilità (the possibility of achieving perfection)