let the perfect be the enemy of the good
let the perfect be the enemy of the good verb: to insist on the total realization of a goal and reject any compromise, thereby decreasing the chance of achieving even a part of that goal.
Verb
let the perfect be the enemy of the good (third-person singular simple present lets the perfect be the enemy of the good, present participle letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, simple past and past participle let the perfect be the enemy of the good)
- To insist on the total realization of a goal and reject any compromise, thereby decreasing the chance of achieving even a part of that goal.
- More data and more analyses will provide better information for the future, but we dare not let “the perfect be the enemy of the good”.1960: Macdonald College, The Macdonald Farm Journal, volumes 21–22, page 7 (R. J. Cooke)
- Of course they are far from perfect, of course we are more than ready to welcome constructive improvements to them, but I beg Parliament and also Member Governments not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.1973, Official journal of the European Communities, numbers 165-169, page 161
Forms of let the perfect be the enemy of the good
| third-person singular present | lets the perfect be the enemy of the good |
|---|---|
| present participle | letting the perfect be the enemy of the good |
| past participle | let the perfect be the enemy of the good |
| past | let the perfect be the enemy of the good |
Questions about let the perfect be the enemy of the good
- What does let the perfect be the enemy of the good mean?
- Let the perfect be the enemy of the good means to insist on the total realization of a goal and reject any compromise, thereby decreasing the chance of achieving even a part of that goal.
- What part of speech is let the perfect be the enemy of the good?
- Let the perfect be the enemy of the good is a verb.
- What is the past tense of let the perfect be the enemy of the good?
- The past tense of let the perfect be the enemy of the good is let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Words near let the perfect be the enemy of the good in the dictionary
- let the door hit you where the good Lord split you
- let the good times roll
- let the grass grow round one's feet
- let the grass grow under one's feet
- let the matter drop
- let the perfect be the enemy of the good
- let the sleeping dogs lie
- let them eat cake
- let there be light
- let things alone
- let things be
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: let the perfect be the enemy of the good (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-let the perfect be the enemy of the good.ogg.
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