purify

[pyoo r-uh-fahy]

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verb (used with object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.

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 or from).

to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use.

verb (used without object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.

to become pure.

Origin of purify

1250–1300; Middle English purifien < Middle French purifier < Latin pūrificāre. See pure, -ify

Related formspu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounpu·rif·i·ca·to·ry

[pyoo-rif-i-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /pyʊˈrɪf ɪ kəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectivepu·ri·fi·er, nounnon·pu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounnon·pu·ri·fy·ing, adjectivere·pu·ri·fi·ca·tion, nounre·pu·ri·fy, verb, re·pu·ri·fied, re·pu·ri·fy·ing.self-pu·ri·fy·ing, adjectiveun·pu·ri·fied, adjectiveun·pu·ri·fy·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for purification

distillation, regeneration, purgation, absolution, atonement, forgiveness, grace, rebirth, washing, redemption, refinement, ablution, purge, catharsis, baptism, salvation, bathing, rarefaction, sanctification, expurgation

Examples from the Web for purification

Contemporary Examples of purification

The entire grim experience, he claims, was a source of “purification.”
Argentina’s Dirty War Casts a Pall Over Bergoglio
Christopher Dickey
March 15, 2013
This has some associations with the theory of catharsis, a view that is linked to purification and cleansing.
Why Do We Cry?
Michael Trimble
January 10, 2013
Why do Republicans continue to value “purification” and bloodletting over winning elections?
Meghan McCain: Is It Too Late for Mitt Romney and Republicans?
Meghan McCain
April 6, 2012
Any organization asking for “purification” from something just feels innately creepy and a little sinister.
Yes, I'm a Pure Republican
Meghan McCain
January 24, 2010

Historical Examples of purification

But, for the clothworker's purpose, this purification is unnecessary.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 447, July 26, 1884
Various
They were going for water from a sacred stream for the bathing of purification.
Things as They Are
Amy Wilson-Carmichael
For this is the purification at which she wants to arrive, and this we should understand to be her aim.
Sophist
Plato
If a man kill his own slave, a purification only is required of him.
Laws
Plato
To accept so terrible an ordeal seemed like a purification of her dishonor.
Wild Justice: Stories of the South Seas
Lloyd Osbourne

British Dictionary definitions for purification

purify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied

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

Derived Formspurification, nounpurificatory (ˈpjʊərɪfɪˌkeɪtərɪ), adjective

Word Origin for purify

C14: from Old French purifier, from Late Latin pūrificāre to cleanse, from pūrus pure + facere to make

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

Word Origin and History for purification

late 14c., originally especially in reference to Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, from Old French purificacion, from Latin purificationem (nominative purificatio) "a purifying," noun of action from past participle stem of purificare (see purify). General sense from 1590s.

purify

early 14c., "free from spiritual pollution," from Old French purefier "purify, cleanse, refine" (12c.), from Latin purificare "to make pure," from purus "pure" (see pure) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Meaning "free from extraneous matter" is recorded from mid-15c. Related: Purified; purifying.