pure
Americanadjective
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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
-
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.
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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
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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
-
(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
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Synonym Usage
See clean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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hyperpurenessnoun
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purenessnoun
-
unpurenessnoun
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hyperpureadjective
-
superpureadjective
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unpureadjective
-
hyperpurelyadverb
-
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:
“With a pure play, I can go after something like Marvell—those smaller companies that maybe a lot of people haven’t heard of,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The former was purpose-driven, with check boxes next to each book; the latter, pure fantasy that was much more inspirational than acquisitive.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
"The hydration breaks are pure advertising inventory. I'd be extremely surprised if they disappear. The expanded format will stay because scale is now Fifa's business model," says Laboure of Deutsche Bank Research.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
The metal is extracted from minerals and rocks such as bauxite and does not occur naturally in its pure form.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 9, 2026
Suddenly Richard closes his eyes and a look of pure sadness comes across his face.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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
Microgravity manufacturing will allow purer and more-uniform crystals, alloys and drug compounds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
The team proposed that heavy, salt-rich ice embedded within purer ice could slowly descend through the shell, recycling surface material and delivering nutrients to the ocean.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 23, 2026
The purer and more ordered a semiconductor is, the better it works.
From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2025
For there are two possible reactions to social ostracism—either a man emerges determined to be better, purer, and kindlier or he goes bad, challenges the world and does even worse things.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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
"A stone of this colour and size is extremely scarce, and adding to its rarity the diamond is type Ia, amongst the purest of natural gems," it said.
From Barron's ● May 13, 2026
"It's the purest form of acting," he says.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
The Taylor family called her “the greatest medium, the one whose faculties for transmission were the purest …” and through Kate, stayed in touch with dead family members for more than twenty-two years.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
