pure
Americanadjective
-
free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter.
pure gold;
pure water.
- Synonyms:
- immaculate, unstained, unalloyed, unadulterated, unmixed
-
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 (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.
-
Biology, Genetics.
-
containing only one characteristic for a trait.
-
Phonetics. monophthongal.
adjective
-
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
-
(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
-
genetics biology breeding true for one or more characteristics; homozygous
-
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
-
Related Words
See clean.
Other Word Forms
- hyperpure adjective
- hyperpurely adverb
- hyperpureness noun
- pureness noun
- superpure adjective
- unpure adjective
- unpurely adverb
- unpureness noun
Etymology
Origin of pure
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English pur, from Old French, from Latin pūrus “clean, unmixed, plain, 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.
Asked at the premiere about what the cast would have in their own magical land, the answers ranged from pure escapism to something a little closer to home.
From BBC
With their mix of social realism, symbolism and pure escapism, the movies of 1939 embody the same themes that kept audiences flocking to the cinema and other forms of entertainment throughout the decade.
“I hope viewers experience pure joy,” Hamilton said in a statement.
From Salon
“Those who truly knew him understood that his art was one of the purest reflections of who he was.”
From Los Angeles Times
“Or perhaps people engaged with Epstein out of pure curiosity,” he continued.
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.
