pure

[ pyoor ]
See synonyms for: purepurestpureness on Thesaurus.com

adjective,pur·er, pur·est.
  1. free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter: pure gold;pure water.

  2. unmodified by an admixture; simple or homogeneous.

  1. of unmixed descent or ancestry: a pure breed of dog.

  2. free from foreign or inappropriate elements: pure Attic Greek.

  3. clear; free from blemishes: pure skin.

  4. (of literary style) straightforward; unaffected.

  5. abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied): pure science.

  6. without any discordant quality; clear and true: pure tones in music.

  7. absolute; utter; sheer: to sing for pure joy.

  8. being that and nothing else; mere: a pure accident.

  9. clean, spotless, or unsullied: pure hands.

  10. untainted with evil; innocent: pure in heart.

  11. physically chaste; virgin.

  12. ceremonially or ritually clean.

  13. free of or without guilt; guiltless.

  14. independent of sense or experience: pure knowledge.

  15. Biology, Genetics.

    • containing only one characteristic for a trait.

  16. Phonetics. monophthongal.

Origin of pure

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English pur, from Old French, from Latin pūrus “clean, unmixed, plain, pure”

synonym study For pure

1. See clean.

Other words for pure

1 unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed, uncontaminated, untainted, unstained, undefiled, untarnished, immaculate, unpolluted, uncorrupted
12 modest, virtuous, undefiled
See synonyms for pure on Thesaurus.com

Other words from pure

  • pureness, noun
  • hy·per·pure, adjective
  • hy·per·pure·ly, adverb
  • hy·per·pure·ness, noun
  • su·per·pure, adjective
  • un·pure, adjective
  • un·pure·ly, adverb
  • un·pure·ness, noun

Words Nearby pure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pure in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pure

pure

/ (pjʊə) /


adjective
  1. not mixed with any extraneous or dissimilar materials, elements, etc: pure nitrogen

  2. free from tainting or polluting matter; clean; wholesome: pure water

  1. free from moral taint or defilement: pure love

  2. (prenominal) (intensifier): pure stupidity; a pure coincidence

  3. (of a subject, etc) studied in its theoretical aspects rather than for its practical applications: pure mathematics; pure science Compare applied

  4. (of a vowel) pronounced with more or less unvarying quality without any glide; monophthongal

  5. (of a consonant) not accompanied by another consonant

  6. of supposedly unmixed racial descent

  7. genetics biology breeding true for one or more characteristics; homozygous

  8. 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

Origin of pure

1
C13: from Old French pur, from Latin pūrus unstained

Derived forms of pure

  • pureness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012