purify
Americanverb (used with object)
-
purifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
purified,
past participle, past
-
purifying
present participle
-
to make pure; free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates.
to purify metals.
-
to free from foreign, extraneous, or objectionable elements.
to purify a language.
-
to free from guilt or evil.
-
to clear or purge (usually followed by of orfrom ).
-
to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use.
verb (used without object)
-
purifies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
purified,
past participle, past
-
purifying
present participle
verb
-
to free (something) of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter
-
(tr) to free (a person, etc) from sin or guilt
-
(tr) to make clean, as in a ritual, esp the churching of women after childbirth
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
purificationnoun
-
purifiernoun
-
repurifyverb
-
nonpurifyingadjective
-
purificatoryadjective
-
self-purifyingadjective
-
unpurifiedadjective
-
unpurifyingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
purifysimple
-
purifiessimple
-
have purifiedperfect
-
has purifiedperfect
-
am purifyingprogressive
-
are purifyingprogressive
-
is purifyingprogressive
-
have been purifyingperfect progressive
-
has been purifyingperfect progressive
Past
-
purifiedsimple
-
had purifiedperfect
-
was purifyingprogressive
-
were purifyingprogressive
-
had been purifyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of purify
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English purifien, from Middle French purifier, from Latin pūrificāre; see pure, -ify
Explanation
To purify something is to remove dirt, chemicals, or anything else that it's contaminated with. You might decide to purify your tap water if it tastes like chlorine. While scientists purify various chemicals during experiments, the substance that people most often purify is water. Water needs to be treated before it's safe to drink, and cities purify the water they send out to people's houses. You can also use the verb purify in a figurative way, to mean "make ritually or religiously clean or pure." This is the word's earliest meaning, from the Latin root purificare, "to make pure."
Vocabulary lists containing purify
English Words Derived from French, List 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
myPerspectives 9.6
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Be Prepared" by Vera Brosgol
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Studies after that conflict concluded the damage hampered efforts to purify water and contributed to infant mortality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
Ice masters look at the PH levels of the water and purify it to remove minerals and impurities.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026
The punishments were made after a "systematic review" and were needed "to enforce industry discipline, purify the football environment, and maintain fair competition", the CFA wrote on its official social media account Thursday.
From Barron's ● Jan. 29, 2026
Beyond their unique biological properties, nanobodies are simpler to produce and purify than traditional antibodies.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2025
The Iroquois Indians used the leaves and roots of this plant to stop bleeding and purify cuts.
From "On the Far Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
This patent-pending technology purifies the isotope by removing it from the bismuth target and then loads it onto a shipping column for incorporation into targeted alpha therapy drugs.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025
The system purifies wastewater using a three-step advanced treatment process, and the water then percolates and is injected into the groundwater basin, where it becomes part of the supply.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2024
A key supply item is a replacement pump for the system on the ISS that purifies urine back to drinking water.
From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2024
The company takes in shipments of refrigerators and tanks from around the country and beyond, drains them, then purifies and reclaims the chemicals, shipping out recycled product.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023
It purifies me, leaving me scoured both inside and out.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
The Metropolitan Water District already is planning a large new facility in Carson to transform wastewater into purified drinking water.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
To better understand how this system works, researchers recreated it outside living cells using purified components.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 20, 2026
It did so, nominating thousands of ingredients, including, for example, purified water and asparagus.
From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026
It takes purified silicon rocks, a good source of which is sand in North Carolina, and fashions them into the 12-inch wafers that will later be imprinted with trillions of transistors to become chips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
Min would squeeze handfuls of the purified clay, or rub it between his fingers.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
Separating and purifying the elements from mineral deposits often requires toxic chemicals, while radioactive substances are frequently present in the same geological formations.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
The Welsh-born, 38-year-old engineer has logged hundreds of laps on Germany’s fabled Nürburgring Nordschleife purifying Bentley’s quintessences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Sartre argued that for the antisemite, “there is no question of building a new society, but only of purifying the one that exists.”
From Salon ● Dec. 17, 2025
The companies purifying water look like better bets than the high-tech customers who use it.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 9, 2025
With the crackling warmth of the fire and the smell of purifying incense the room seemed less of a sepulchre.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
