pure
Americanadjective
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purer,
comparative
-
purest
superlative
-
free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter.
pure gold;
pure water.
- Synonyms:
- immaculate, unstained, unalloyed, unadulterated, unmixed
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unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous.
-
of unmixed descent or ancestry.
a pure breed of dog.
-
free from foreign or inappropriate elements.
pure Attic Greek.
-
clear; free from blemishes.
pure skin.
-
(of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.
-
abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied).
pure science.
-
without any discordant quality; clear and true.
pure tones in music.
-
absolute; utter; sheer.
to sing for pure joy.
-
being that and nothing else; mere.
a pure accident.
-
clean, spotless, or unsullied.
pure hands.
-
untainted with evil; innocent.
pure in heart.
-
physically chaste; virgin.
-
ceremonially or ritually clean.
-
free of or without guilt; guiltless.
-
independent of sense or experience.
pure knowledge.
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Biology, Genetics.
-
containing only one characteristic for a trait.
-
Phonetics. monophthongal.
adjective
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not mixed with any extraneous or dissimilar materials, elements, etc
pure nitrogen
-
free from tainting or polluting matter; clean; wholesome
pure water
-
free from moral taint or defilement
pure love
-
(prenominal) (intensifier)
pure stupidity
a pure coincidence
-
(of a subject, etc) studied in its theoretical aspects rather than for its practical applications Compare applied
pure mathematics
pure science
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(of a vowel) pronounced with more or less unvarying quality without any glide; monophthongal
-
(of a consonant) not accompanied by another consonant
-
of supposedly unmixed racial descent
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genetics biology breeding true for one or more characteristics; homozygous
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music
-
(of a sound) composed of a single frequency without overtones
-
(of intervals in the system of just intonation) mathematically accurate in respect to the ratio of one frequency to another
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Synonym Usage
See clean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hyperpurenessnoun
-
purenessnoun
-
unpurenessnoun
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hyperpureadjective
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superpureadjective
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unpureadjective
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hyperpurelyadverb
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unpurelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of pure
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English pur, from Old French, from Latin pūrus “clean, unmixed, plain, pure”
Explanation
The adjective pure describes something that's made of only one substance and is not mixed with anything else. For example, your favorite soft, warm winter scarf might be made from pure merino wool. Anything that's uncontaminated by extra, unnecessary, or unclean substances is pure. You can swim in pure water or wear a necklace that's made of pure silver. Pure can also mean "complete" or "absolute," especially when it describes happiness. A religious meaning of pure is "free from sin", good or wholesome. The Latin word purus, "clean or unmixed," is the root of pure.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"But for this pure innocent child, there is nowhere to put our reactions or our grief," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
More inference-heavy workloads would have the added benefit of improving profitability for the AI labs, as they can charge customers for inference, whereas model training is a pure cost.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
He’s both spook and sleuth and Nixon makes a particular kind of hero’s transition, from pure thinker to man of action.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Spanning the two, Scott arrives at a performance of pure transcendence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The older woman thought Maggie’s letters “sweet and touching” and approved of the couple, “What is more to be prized than a pure, devoted heart?”
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
"I think young people in the village and, actually, myself, aren't as strong-spirited as in the past... People were purer," she said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
One of Parton’s first forays into purer pop, this single has the stomp and shuffle of funk and could easily be retrofitted into disco DJ sets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
The purer the crystal, the longer the magnons survived.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Middle East supplies about a fifth of the world’s jet fuel, a form of kerosene that is purer and can withstand the freezing temperatures at cruise altitudes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
But for the moment, Christmas bided its time outside, a purer presence.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
He adds: "It's the purest form of anti-fashion…and that is what makes it so interesting and unique."
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Then, around some Jewish holiday, I go to a friend’s house for lunch, and by purest coincidence, at the table, there sits Fogelman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
"This work reflects a philosophy of chemistry that's designed to accelerate drug discovery in its purest form," says Moses.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Skip the next two paragraphs if you want to hold onto the film’s purest pleasures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
It was the strongest, purest emotion he knew.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
