pure
Americanadjective
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purer,
comparative
-
purest
superlative
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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.
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abstract or theoretical (opposed to applied).
pure science.
-
without any discordant quality; clear and true.
pure tones in music.
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absolute; utter; sheer.
to sing for pure joy.
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being that and nothing else; mere.
a pure accident.
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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.
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Phonetics. monophthongal.
adjective
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not mixed with any extraneous or dissimilar materials, elements, etc
pure nitrogen
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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
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(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
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purenessnoun
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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:
The plots of “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Princess Mononoke” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” are as lucid and pure as spring water, relatively speaking.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
“It’s one of the few times that we wanted things to look pure, simple and fresh,” John Glaser says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
"To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM."
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
Producing the two pathways required exceptionally pure beams of both copper-70 states.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
It was not the high, wobbly yowl of a cub, but the pure, heart-wrenching song of a young wolf.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Mr. Vance fulminates: “Never have I read a purer distillation of our worship at the altar of commerce.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
There, in microgravity, the miniature labs grow molecular crystals that are purer than those produced in Earth’s gravity for use in pharmaceuticals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2026
"The work that we're doing now is allowing us to create semiconductors up to 4,000 times purer in space than we can currently make here today," says Josh Western, CEO of Space Forge.
From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2025
Kurita and Organo are purer plays on fab buildouts; Ecolab still makes most of its money keeping restaurant kitchens sanitary, while Xylem sells a lot of municipal pumps.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 12, 2025
The glaves themselves were perfect polished spheres, hanging by the hundreds and emitting a purer white light than he’d ever seen from the rough, ruddy stones that lit the abbey.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
"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
“When I tried to dilute it into the purest essence,” she says, “it felt like safety.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Music is perhaps the purest of these art forms, tapping into our lizard brains to regulate our emotions that are seeking to make sense of this precious yet maddening existence.
From Salon ● Jun. 5, 2026
It’s the purest demonstration of what it means to bring together subjective lived experience and academic knowledge.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
Now, I know that’s pathetic in just about its purest form, but there’s no way I can deal with this kind of thing so early I need experience with this.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
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.
