"perfect is the enemy of good" meaning in English

See perfect is the enemy of good in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: A variant of the older the best is the enemy of the good, popularized by Voltaire in French as le mieux est l’ennemi du bien, itself a translation of the Italian proverb il meglio è nemico del bene. Etymology templates: {{der|en|it|-}} Italian Head templates: {{en-proverb}} perfect is the enemy of good
  1. Insistence on perfection often precludes the opportunity for something worthwhile.
    Sense id: en-perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good-en-proverb-NmPiFnFc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of English proverbs: 48 52 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 50 50
  2. Insistence on perfection precludes gradual improvement through compromises.
    Sense id: en-perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good-en-proverb-F8C9Md2i Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of English proverbs: 48 52 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 50 50
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: better is the enemy of good, the best is the enemy of the good, the better is the enemy of the good, perfection is the enemy of good, perfect is the enemy of good enough, the perfect is the enemy of the good Derived forms: make the perfect the enemy of the good, let the perfect be the enemy of the good Related terms: half a loaf is better than none, leave well enough alone Translations (Translations): das Bessere ist der Feind des Guten (German)
Disambiguation of 'Translations': 48 52

Alternative forms

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      "word": "the best is the enemy of the good"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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