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purify

[pyoo r-uh-fahy]
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verb (used with object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.
  1. to make pure; free from anything that debases, pollutes, adulterates, or contaminates: to purify metals.
  2. to free from foreign, extraneous, or objectionable elements: to purify a language.
  3. to free from guilt or evil.
  4. to clear or purge (usually followed by of or from).
  5. to make clean for ceremonial or ritual use.
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verb (used without object), pu·ri·fied, pu·ri·fy·ing.
  1. to become pure.
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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. 2018

Related Words

absolveatonewashlustratefumigateexpiatepurgedecontaminatesanitizeexculpateaerateoxygenateclarifyredeemshrivecleanseexoneratechastensublimatedeodorize

Examples from the Web for purified

Historical Examples

  • Still that could not matter, since charity redeemed and purified all.

    The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete

    Emile Zola

  • But if the loveliness of her character should have purified his, and drawn and bound his soul to hers?

    Wilfrid Cumbermede

    George MacDonald

  • If any freeman consort with him, let him be purified before he returns to the city.

    Laws

    Plato

  • "Everything that grew or moved was purified," she went on ringingly.

    The Moon is Green

    Fritz Reuter Leiber

  • Instead of women's going to the polls corrupting them it has purified the polls.

British Dictionary definitions for purified

purify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied
  1. to free (something) of extraneous, contaminating, or debasing matter
  2. (tr) to free (a person, etc) from sin or guilt
  3. (tr) to make clean, as in a ritual, esp the churching of women after childbirth
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Derived Formspurification, nounpurificatory (ˈpjʊərɪfɪˌkeɪtərɪ), adjective

Word Origin

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 purified

purify

v.

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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper